School year to begin in turmoil

Levenson's departure has officials scurrying

With the start of a new academic year looming, the Arlington School Committee and other town officials are working to stabilize the school district following the blow of losing its superintendent in a cloud of controversy.

Nate Levenson resigned as superintendent on Aug. 7 in an emergency School Committee meeting, citing "improprieties" that occurred in 2007. The unexpected loss came less than a month before the Sept. 4 reopening of Arlington schools, and many town officials were left reeling, said School Committee chairwoman Denise Burns.

"It's been a wild ride," Burns said.

Now, a School Committee that Burns called "very divided" is left to search for a new superintendent, in the meantime leaving the reins to interim Superintendent Kathleen Bodie, who formerly served as Levenson's second-in-command.

Levenson had a stormy three-year tenure in Arlington, and in 2007 he rocked Ottoson Middle School by dismissing both teacher Chuck Coughlin and principal Stavroula Bouris, saying he had received a packet of e-mails suggesting the two were carrying on an inappropriate relationship. The two denied wrongdoing, and the dismissals led to a yearlong arbitration case that is ongoing, said Arlington town counsel Juliana Rice.

Rice said during the course of the arbitration, information about Levenson came to light that lawyers working on the case felt ethically obligated to report. But before the committee could make a decision on whether to act, Levenson handed in his resignation letter, calling his time in Arlington "very hard years for me personally."

Because of the ongoing arbitration, School Committee members and officials involved in the case declined to reveal what the improprieties are, leaving more questions than answers for town residents.

"It's very difficult because there's a big question mark," said Board of Selectmen chairwoman Clarissa Rowe, who went on to say that the improprieties will not directly affect the Arlington school system. "It's not like [Levenson] absconded with millions of dollars. . . . There's absolutely no sexual overtones in this at all. It shouldn't affect the school system in any way except that we don't have a superintendent."

Levenson did not return calls seeking comment for this story.

Burns stopped short of saying Levenson's controversial actions divided the town and the School Committee, but instead pointed to his latest batch of evaluations, where scores ranged from very poor to extremely good.

School Committee member Jeff Thielman said although the situation is far from ideal, the timing of Levenson's resignation could have been much worse - around the time in late June when the $37.8 million school budget was being approved, for instance.

"Candidly, if you're going to lose a superintendent, now is not a bad time to do it," Thielman said. "We've started a new fiscal year, we have leadership in place, our goals are set - the plan just needs to be implemented."

Bodie has served as assistant superintendent for the past year and has been active in the Arlington school district since about 2000, and Thielman heralded her promotion as a "very important step" in repairing the school system. However, Bodie's confirmation was not unanimous, with two members favoring inviting former superintendent Kathleen Donovan back to serve as interim, highlighting the rift that the School Committee must face when collaborating on a search for a new school chief in the coming months.

"The School Committee is not going to be united overnight by kind words," Thielman said. "The process of a good search for a new superintendent has the potential to unify the committee, but we have to get to a point where we can cast a unanimous vote for the next superintendent. We're not there yet."

Burns said she is working on bringing in representatives from both the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents and the Massachusetts Association of School Committees to the next meeting to help advise committee members on the best course of action. The date of the meeting is still being set, but both Thielman and Burns expressed a desire to hear what experts have to say before making further decisions.

"They're going to tell us what's out there right now, and what the market is, and I want to do what the experts advise me to do," Burns said. "I think [the meeting] will be our first step at determining what we need to do to go forward and developing a very open and fair process."

One thing has remained unanimous throughout this setback, however: the School Committee's faith in the roughly 900 teachers and other faculty and their ability to remain professional in a time of crisis.

"This staff and faculty is second to none," Burns said. "They have been through a lot, and they have not missed a beat."

Rowe echoed the sentiment, stating that although there might be administrative turmoil, the education of the roughly 4,600 Arlington students will not suffer.

"Of course, any kind of change in the beginning of August is a little daunting, but I'm not worried about it because I think the day-to-day life of the children is going to be fine, and of course that's the first concern."

Sarah Metcalf can be reached at smetcalf22@gmail.com.