Former Shen leader coming to Schenectady

A superintendent who once forced out a high school principal for hiding problems from police is coming to oversee the Schenectady city schools.

John Yagielski, a former Shenendehowa Central School District superintendent, will be appointed by the Schenectady school board tonight, outgoing board President Maxine Brisport said.

He will serve as interim superintendent. The district did not release any details as to his pay or the search process for a long-term superintendent.

But one board member said Yagielski insisted on holding a news conference to explain his contract and to emphasize that he will lead the district to be far more open to the public.

“He’s very interested in listening,” said board member Andrew Chestnut. “I was elected on openness. I’m just very impressed with this guy’s real understanding of how it’s important to reconnect with all the parts of the community, including the press.”

Through the district spokeswoman, Yagielski said he would not speak to the media Wednesday because it would be “inappropriate” to do so before being appointed today.

But spokeswoman Karen Corona said he asked her to call reporters to say that he plans to be responsive once he’s appointed.

Chestnut said Yagielski asked for the news conference as a way to turn over a new leaf.

“He understands the opportunity the district has now to kind of take a step back, listen to itself and the community and rebuild,” he said.

Several board members have said the district needs to rebuild a sense of trust with taxpayers, parents and district employees.

Some taxpayers have said they no longer trust the district to wisely spend their money, particularly after former Superintendent Eric Ely threatened last year to raise taxes 15.8 percent if the voters rejected the budget twice. This year, he again proposed a way to raise taxes sharply after the budget was twice rejected. However, the school board did not accept his proposal.

Meanwhile, many parents have criticized the district’s lack of communication through last year’s string of suicides of female students. Some parents said they had no idea their children were grieving the loss of several friends and thus weren’t watching for signs of suicidal thoughts.

And some district employees have said they don’t dare point out problems with district curriculum or policies because administrators will retaliate by transferring them to less desirable positions. Some principals say they even hold secret meetings so they can talk freely as they brainstorm solutions to their building’s problems.

Chestnut said Yagielski understands the importance of solving those problems.

“He really seems to get that,” Chestnut said.

The board interviewed several applicants for the interim job, he added, but agreed that Yagielski was the best choice.

Yagielski was superintendent at Shenendehowa from 1992 to 1997, when he left to run a consulting business. From 1995 on, he was the highest-paid superintendent in the Capital Region.

But he also developed a reputation for tackling hard issues head-on, according to Daily Gazette archives.

In January 1993, four juniors at the high school built a bomb and exploded it at the school. The principal did not tell the police or Yagielski.

Four days later, they set off a second bomb. Again, Principal Edward Curran kept it quiet.

The next day, he saw a flier that threatened additional bombings. Only then did he call police and talk to Yagielski.

Yagielski immediately and publicly criticized the principal for keeping the issue secret. He said the second bombing might have been prevented if the police had begun an investigation after the first incident.

Seven days later, Curran tearfully resigned.

Yagielski also handled several incidents of prejudice among students and staff.

In one case, parents complained at a school board meeting that children who lived in a trailer park were being insulted by fellow students and some staff. Yagielski responded at that meeting, telling them that he took the allegations seriously and would retrain staff.

In another case, someone — presumably a student — scrawled anti-Semitic graffiti on a Jewish student’s locker at the high school.

Two clergy members responded by creating CHORD, a group designed to sort out misunderstandings among students and staff, listen to all sides and recommend changes in policy and behavior.

Yagielski joined the group, spoke highly of it and encouraged staff, students and parents to contact it whenever any issue of bias came up.

Yagielski left Shenendehowa a year after someone fire-bombed his minivan in his driveway. No arrests were ever announced, but investigators theorized at the time that the arsonist was a school maintenance worker who was angry with Yagielski over proposed job cuts in the 1996-97 budget. His budget, which passed, called for the elimination of five maintenance positions.

The incident also occurred amid protests at the high school over the extension of the school day to make up for an extra snow day, but Yagielski said the two issues were not linked. The senior class later raised $500 for a reward to help find the arsonist.

Before Shenendehowa, Yagielski was for six years superintendent of the Greece Central Schools, near Rochester.

He began his career there as senior accountant in 1969, moving up to business manager and then assistant superintendent for business and finance.

His financial background was cited by the Shenendehowa school board as one of the main reasons to hire him.

Categories: Schenectady County