Outgoing Boston Schools Superintendent Brenda Cassellius came in under the cover of darkness and is leaving the same way — with a potentially huge severance agreement the city is sitting on.
Cassellius will likely be muzzled under a non-disclosure agreement when she leaves, but it would be nice if she spilled details of her brief time as superintendent on the way out.
Most employees who leave companies get an exit interview — that’s how most businesses operate. So why not do the same with Cassellius, giving parents and students an inside look at the frustrations and struggles of a schools chief in Boston?
Tell us what she really thinks of the joke of a school committee and the oversized influence of the powerful teacher’s union. Trying to keep the union appeased and keeping the schools open during the coronavirus pandemic had to be a difficult job for Cassellius. Does the union get to dictate policy?
Give us details on her relationship with former Mayor Marty Walsh and current Mayor Michelle Wu. How much influence and interference did they really have on her and how the schools are run?
Strike a blow for transparency for once. The parents of all Boston school children will appreciate the rare candor.
Cassellius recently penned a column for The Washington Post about the teacher and staffing shortage plaguing the schools.
That was a marked departure for her and showed a little independence. It’s unclear if Wu approved of the column but it could be viewed as a little shot at the mayor and school committee. The column gave a good glimpse of some of the real problems facing school systems like Boston.
But why stop there? We could use more of that honesty and advocacy for school children.
Concerned parents want to know how dangerous it is inside the walls of Boston schools. The discovery of a gun at a South Boston school on Friday — along with the vicious attack on a principal a few months ago — showed the school system has a long way to go at protecting kids and teachers from violence,
And we want to see all the dirty details — including money figures — of the separation agreement Cassellius now must sign.
School officials under Walsh tightly controlled the search process when Cassellius was hired and now the school committee says it won’t divulge details of the separation agreement until next month.
But we can assume it will be at least 18 months and possibly two years left on her contract, which could give her a payout of up to $600.000.
For that kind of money, Boston parents and voters deserve a full accounting of what led to the “mutual decision” for Cassellius to depart.
