MIDDLETOWN — Board of Education members and residents are divided over the controversial decision to reassign High School South Principal Anthony Shallop to a teaching position at the July 20 board meeting.
Shallop holds a tenured teaching position but had not received tenure as an administrator.
Many residents submitted letters to the Independent expressing their outrage at the decision and disappointment in the manner it was conducted.
According to Patricia Wood, of Middletown, the board remained in executive session for three hours before opening the public meeting.
Approximately 50 supporters of Shallop then spoke over the course of two hours praising the administrator during the public comment section, she said in a letter to the Independent.
“As a staunch supporter of Dr. Shallop, I found the events of that evening to be terribly sad, and yet inspiring at the same time,” Wood said, praising those who spoke at the meeting.
However, board members said that they did what they felt was right for the district.
Board Member Vincent Brand said in an email that his decision was based on the facts relevant to the issue, which by law cannot be discussed in public because the issue remains personal and confidential.
“It would have been easy to vote the popular vote last night, but that would have been, for me, unethical to do so.”
According to Brand and board Vice President Christopher Aveta, the board gave Shallop a chance to address the issues prior to the vote.
“I fought hard for Dr. Shallop to get into executive session so that he would have every opportunity to impact the vote and so that he could hear directly from the board the specific issues at hand,” Brand said.
“He was given that chance and could not positively affect the outcome.”
Board member Michael Donlon was the only board member to vote against the reassignment.
“I had not been totally convinced the decision was correct, therefore I could not go along with it,” he said in an email.
“Granting tenure to someone is not a decision that is taken lightly,” board President Joan Minnuies said in an email.
Minnuies said that the decision was three months in the making and involved discussions with the district’s central office and Shallop.
“I feel that the information provided to the board by both the central office and Dr. Shallop himself has convinced the board that the decision we ended up making was the correct one,” she said.
However, Minnuies said that this conviction did not assuage the difficulty of being unable to explain the decision to Shallop’s supporters.
“The hardest thing for me that night was listening to all the students and not being able to tell them why [we made that decision], but under the law we are not allowed to share that kind of personnel information,” she said.
According to the agenda, Shallop was returned to his tenured teaching position at a salary of $80,460.
Patrick Rinella will serve as the acting principal assigned to High School South from July 21 to Aug. 24 at a rate of $75 per day .“I have great respect for Dr. Shallop and look forward to his continued contributions to theMiddletown community,” Brand said.