Teachers have no confidence in leader

HOWLAND – The local teachers’ association recently issued a letter of no confidence in Superintendent William Ziemer as the “educational leader of M.S.A.D. 31.”

The Penobscot Valley Education Association generated a one-page letter explaining the vote after the group’s meeting last week. The letter, which was addressed to SAD 31 board chair Paul LaForge, was circulated by the PVEA to some town officials and community members at the March 18 meeting of the SAD 31 board of directors.

The PVEA consists of roughly 50 teachers from the district. More than half the members were at the March 15 meeting at which the vote was taken, according to PVEA President Richard Lindsay.

Ziemer said Wednesday he respected PVEA’s opinion, but pointed out that the association had never addressed him with a complaint before the letter.

The letter stated that PVEA believed Ziemer had ignored or disparaged the views of the staff and larger community in the “extremely important issue of exploring partnering with surrounding educational school districts.” At the state’s urging, SAD 31 is in the process of exploring partnerships for the potential construction of a new high school to serve the district’s students.

The PVEA feels that Ziemer already has chosen SAD 67 (Lincoln area) to be the partner, Lindsay said Wednesday. The value residents have for keeping Penobscot Valley High School in Howland has been overlooked, he said.

“A lot of people have pride in that school,” Lindsay said. “It’s really disheartening what’s happening.”

In a phone interview Wednesday night, Ziemer said he has maintained that the best potential option for partnership lies with Lincoln, but said the SAD 31 board recently gave the Penobscot Regional Education Task Force – an ad-hoc committee of residents and board members – the authority to talk to neighboring towns about interest in a potential partnership.

“All interested parties of the community will have an opportunity to speak with neighboring communities in seeking a partnership,” Ziemer said.

The letter also stated that the PVEA was “appalled” that Ziemer called members of professional and support staff at PVHS into his office in mid-March and informed them that their programs and positions likely would be eliminated from next year’s budget.

The incident has caused apprehension among PVHS teachers, Lindsay said.

“The teachers are worried more about surviving than day-to-day education,” Lindsay said.

“It seems like if you were going to disable the high school, [Ziemer] is going about it the right way,” said Lindsay, referring to the potential loss of positions.

Ziemer admitted talking to the group of teachers and staff, but said he wanted to give those people advance warning that their positions could be cut as a result of the budget that will be passed in June. The district is facing a $400,000 budget shortfall for next year even with making all possible cuts that don’t include personnel and programming, Ziemer said.

“Not informing people their jobs are at risk before June would be criminal,” Ziemer said, adding that he wanted those employees to have adequate time to look for other employment.

The letter also said the PVEA viewed Ziemer’s leadership style as “unprofessional, unsupportive, and detrimental to the educational process” in SAD 31. Among Ziemer’s unprofessional decisions, Lindsay said, was a March 10 meeting on regionalization and consolidation that the superintendent scheduled with a little more than a day’s notice. While the short notice raised legality issues, the meeting created a perception among some people that Ziemer wanted the keep the public out of the important public issue, Lindsay said.

“I don’t believe this man is a leader,” Lindsay said.

Ziemer said he didn’t consider the vote or the letter to be a personal attack, but rather a reaction to all the negative factors that have affected the district, including the state’s rejection of a new building in SAD 31 and the severe drop in financial revenues to the district.

“I respect and accept the opinion of PVEA and look forward to speaking with their representation to develop solutions for their concerns,” Ziemer said.

Ziemer urged anyone with questions to call him directly or attend a regularly scheduled board meeting.