NORWICH, Conn. — Fourteen months since the Norwich superintendent and assistant superintendent were placed on paid-leave after teachers spoke out about a “culture of retaliation,” members of the community said their patience for a resolution is dwindling.
“You knew! You had to have known,” one woman shouted at Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting. “She came to us with baggage. We got what we paid for and now we’re going to pay and pay and pay and pay.”
Superintendent Dr. Kristen Stringfellow came to Norwich Public Schools from Rhode Island in 2019. After four years in her new role, teachers described feeling bullied and even abused.
“There was pretty widespread discontent and it mainly came from how the teachers perceived as a culture of fear or retaliation," Bill Priest, Norwich Teachers League president, said. "They couldn’t speak out or have a say in matters that involved them without fearing retribution or loss of their job.”
Educators did lose their jobs.
“The number of non-tenured dismissals went from on average six a year to well into the high 20s,” Priest said.
Some educators who weren’t forced to leave chose to themselves. In the 2022-2023 school year, 160 teachers left the district, which was about half the teaching body.
“When you start to see that level of exodus, you have to be concerned about what’s going on,” Kate Dias, CT Education Association president, said.
The CEA had Norwich staff fill out a climate survey to get to the source of the problem, and officials said it all tied back to Stringfellow.
“There was this constant angst of what’s going to happen to me? And to have 96% of your teachers saying that really suggests they don’t trust you,” Dias said.
Teachers, parents and students made their voices heard outside of board meetings until Stringfellow and her counterpart were temporarily removed from their positions in September 2023.
But more than a year later, the community still waits, and hopes, for the separation to become official and finally turn the page in Norwich.
“14 months is a long time. That’s a burden to the taxpayer, so I wish they would wrap it up,” Priest said.
The CEA said based on the length of the investigation, it does not anticipate Stringfellow to be reinstated as superintendent at Norwich, which is currently being led by Acting Superintendent Susan Lessard. Teachers said the workplace climate has improved in Stringfellow’s absence, as has teacher retention.
“My experience is the longer it takes the less likely the individual is to return to the district,” Dias said. “I would encourage [the board] to complete this as quickly as possible at this point. Negotiate whatever they need to and allow the district to move on.”
Chair of the Norwich Board of Education Mark Kulos provided the following statement on the matter:
“At this time, all I can say is that the investigation is progressing into both the superintendent and assistant superintendent. Confidentiality must be maintained for both the employees rights under law and by contract and to preserve the board's rights. I, too, as a taxpayer myself, wish for a resolution to these matters and am hopeful that soon will be accomplished.”
The board meets again Tuesday, Dec. 10.
Bridgette Bjorlo is an anchor/reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at bbjorlo@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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