Supports builds for Diman superintendent day after school committee votes against contract renewal

Many members of the Diman school community were floored when the School Committee voted not to renew the superintendent’s contract, a decision one committee member said Friday was based on Thomas Aubin’s temperament and at times singular leadership style.

FALL RIVER — Many members of the Diman school community were floored when the School Committee voted not to renew the superintendent’s contract, a decision one committee member said Friday was based on Thomas Aubin’s temperament and at times singular leadership style.

Joan Menard, one of three Fall River representatives to the Greater Fall River Regional Vocational School Committee, said Friday that Aubin works “very hard” at his job, and noted he does well supervising faculty, administration and staff.

Without providing examples, Menard said Aubin implemented new policies and initiatives without looping in the School Committee. Menard owed this to Aubin’s wanting to “to get things quickly and get things done right,” making decisions without input from the committee.

“He wanted to get things done quickly, in this instance you have a school committee who is very very interested in participating, in making those kinds of decisions, and very often we were not asked to participate in the decision making,” she said.

Aubin was overly involved in the “day-to-day operations” of the school, according to Menard, and handled matters that would typically be managed by principals and vice-principals.

“He was actively involved in every single part of the daily functioning in the school,” she said “That’s unusual for any superintendent.”

In a job performance review covering the 2016-2017 school year, Menard wrote that Aubin “does not deal well with people — Board members, administrators or staff who disagree with him on any issue. He must learn to discuss issues of disagreement — not lose his temper.”

Reached by phone Friday, Aubin declined to respond to Menard’s criticism. He said he received support Friday from many people: “It’s really overwhelming, I’m speechless.”

“Over the past two and a half years the advances that we've made as an organization are amazing by any metric you measure,” he said. “When you have the responsibility to change students lives through education, and you have four years to do it you can't delve into the things you don't understand.”

He said the administration will continue working together to educate students while he remains superintendent/director until his three-year contract expires on June 30.  

“We’re going to continue to push to provide our kids the best education we can,” he said.

Menard also said Friday that a new superintendent should navigate the ongoing process of working with the Massachusetts School Building Authority to re-vamp or rebuild Diman.

Diman is overcrowded, “a school built for 800 now has 1,400,” said Ryan Mediros, an HVAC teacher, at Thursday’s meeting.

Menard said moving the renovation or rebuilding project through the MSBA process is “going to take a great deal of time and a great deal of patience.” She said the majority of the school committee felt it was time for “a new personality and a new person.”

Aubin said he is proud that Diman was accepting into the MSBA eligibility period while he was the helm of the school he graduated from, and where he has worked in one capacity or another since the mid-1980s.

“I’m fiercely proud of the fact that we were accepted into Module 1 in the first year of my superintendency, after being rejected seven years in a row,” he said.

While the school committee met in executive session Thursday, Diman Special Education teacher Jessica Tavares — one of about 70 people, dozens who were members of the Diman Teachers Association and a few students who attended the meeting in support of Aubin — said the time is not right time to change leadership.

“There have been a lot of positive changes that I’ve seen since Mr. Aubin took over, for the good of the school, for the students, for the staff. Three years is a short time to get a lot of things done,” she said. “Especially with the new school (building) coming up, he’s done a lot of work for that, so the changing of the guard, it’s not a good time to do it.”

The School Committee ultimately voted 5-1 against renewing Aubin’s contract. Recently appointed Fall River representative Rev. Jay Mello was the sole vote in favor of bringing Aubin back next year.

Reached by phone on Friday, Jeffrey Begin, elected to represent Swansea on the committee, deferred to a printed statement Chair Paul Jennings handed to a reporter following Thursday’s meeting.

Somerset representative Donald DiBiasio did not respond to a message seeking comment Thursday. Jennings, of Westport, responded to neither an emailed inquiry as to whether Aubin had ever been the subject of a complaint sent to the school committee, or a phone call seeking comment. Fall River representative Renee Howayeck did not return a phone call placed to Howayeck Law.

But some insight into those members’ thinking can be gleaned from the 2016-2017 superintendent performance review.

Begin wrote that Aubin performs at a “high level of professionalism,” but echoed Menard in writing that Aubin modifies programs without seeking permission from the school committee, “causing disarray in our understanding of the school's status in general.”

“I'm sure this is not intentional, however, these situations have caused discontent and confusion when addressed by constituents, students, and faculty,” Begin wrote.

DiBiasio wrote that “Mr. Aubin needs to respect the School Committee members for the Committee is his boss. It appears that Mr. Aubin believes he is the School Committee's boss and sometimes talks down to its' members,” adding that the superintendent “also needs to include all the staff as the Diman family, not just the staff that he favors.”

Howayeck wrote that Aubin is committed and passionate about his role, and has a vision for keeping the school’s vocational programming relevant. She wrote that she wants “an expansion of professional development, evaluation and support with regard to provision of Special Education services.”

A written appraisal of Aubin’s work from Jennings was not included in the publicly available document.

While no period of public comment was opened at Thursday’s meeting, several teachers and one student expressed shock and disapproval at the committee’s decision.

Anne-Marie Zenni, standing in a vestibule with several others said it is “absolutely wrong and misguided” that the committee made this decision without input from the faculty, and said the leadership change will be a disruption for students.

“When you are appointed or elected to serve, you are serving the district,” she said. “You did not serve us right here, this is a huge disservice to our students,” she said. The 15-year Diman teacher added: “We get someone that gets us in front of the MSBA and this is how we thank him?”

Student representative to the school committee Ben Ramos, a senior, said failing to renew Aubin’s contract “would be like the GDP increasing 10 times and voting out the president: It would make no sense.”

Former student Makenzie Teixeira, 18, said she liked seeking Aubin in the hallways, and felt supported by him when she was struggling senior year.

“He’s just a great person inside and out,” she said. “He cares so much about the school and everyone in it.”

The Diman Teachers Association held a meeting Friday, when a ballot vote revealed an “overwhelming majority” of its membership condemns the school committee’s contract decision, according to union President Mitch Sweet.

The union’s next move will be considered at a meeting of the executive board on Wednesday, he wrote in a message.

“The Diman Teachers Association had a general body meeting today (Friday) with our membership and had a ballot vote about the School Committee’s decision. We had an overwhelming majority vote that we do not support the decision of the School Committee,” he wrote.