School Com. Announces Two Superintendent Finalists
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FREE April 2, 2021 Vol. 52, No. 47 INDEX Viewpoints 4 TOWN Sports 9 Public Safety 11 Reminder Public Notices 13 Classifieds 14 A TURLEY PUBLICATION ❙ www.turley.com Serving the town of South Hadley www.townreminder.turley.com South COMMUNITY, 3 School Com. announces two Steps for Stawasz Hadley regresses Superintendent finalists Site visits, on COVID community Q and A front and interviews to be completed by OPINIONS, 4 By Dalton Zbierski Staff Writer end of April Letters to the Editor SOUTH HADLEY – South By Melina Bourdeau Hadley has taken a step back- Staff writer wards, as its COVID-19 case count rose significantly in the GRANBY – By the end of the FACES & PLACES, 7 past week. Between March month, there will be new Granby 23 and 30, a total of 28 new Superintendent ready to take the Twenty three hours confirmed and 11 new contact helm. of ‘fun’ cases of the novel coronavirus Two finalists have been se- were reported in town. lected by the Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Bienia is one of Courtesy photos Between March 16 and 23, Search Committee to move for- two finalists for the Granby One of the finalists for there were only 12 new con- ward with the interview process, Superintendent position. She superintendent, Stephen Sullivan, firmed and nine new contact which will include a public in- is the current principal at currently works as the principal cases reported. The latest surge terview with the Granby School Glickman Elementary School. of Granby Jr/Sr High School. has brought South Hadley’s Committee. accumulative case count up to Finalists Stephen Sullivan 947 confirmed and 730 contact and Dr. Elizabeth Bienia were executive session on March 3 nia is the current principal of at cases since the start of the pan- announced in this week’s School and reviewed the applications,” Glickman Elementary School in demic. Committee meeting. Pelletier said. “(We) brought Springfield. She was previously No new deaths have been School Committee and Su- forward 11 potential candidates the assistant principal at Gate- reported in South Hadley, as perintendent Search Committee to the committee and from there way High School,” Pelletier said. the statistic itself has not been member Jill Pelletier announced conducted seven semi-finalists “She started her career as an early updated since March 2. On the finalists and updated the interviews.” childhood educator and teacher. the town website, a box that board on the process moving She announced that the com- She is also an adjunct professor SPORTS, 9 still identifies deaths reported ahead. mittee selected Sullivan and Bie- and has published on a variety of up until March 2 has been left “When the application closed nia to move forward as finalists critical educational topics.” empty the past four weeks. on Monday, March 1 there were as well as provided a description Tigers pick up As it was last updated, there 18 total applications received. on their backgrounds. Please see FINALISTS, second straight win have been 41 COVID-19-re- The search committee met in “Things to highlight are Bie- page 6 lated deaths reported in South Hadley during the pandemic. As accessibility to vaccines slowly increases, a false sense of security is becoming prev- SHELD discussed Energy, Climate bill alent. Now, more than ever, COVID-19 safe practices such By Dalton Zbierski On March 26, the Energy for Environmental Justice com- as social-distancing, handwash- Staff Writer and Climate Bill, proposed by munities in Massachusetts. ing, sanitizing and avoiding Gov. Charlie Baker, was signed SHELD General Manager large gatherings all remain nec- SOUTH HADLEY – For the into law at the State House on Sean Fitzgerald celebrated the essary, explained Town Admin- better part of the past decade, Beacon Hill in Boston. passing of the bill, as South istrator Mike Sullivan. the South Hadley Electric Light The law, “An Act on Creat- Hadley already complies with “There’s still a 10% chance Department has placed a premi- ing a Next Generation Roadmap the standards it sets. um on producing clean energy. for Massachusetts Climate Pol- “Some of those targets in that Please see COVID, In South Hadley, the energy that icy,” establishes new mandates, page 6 SHELD sells its customers is sets goals for emissions reduc- Please see SHELD, 90% carbon free. tions and increases protections page 8 MassWildlife proposes first license increase in 26 years By Tyler S. Witkop button, those license fees remain Correspondent as one of the few relics from BUSINESS, 16 1996 still in place today. Flashback to the year 1996. Now, facing drastic increases Bill Clinton began his second in both costs and services, and Stay a step ahead term as U.S. president, Michael declining revenues, the state’s Di- of scammers Jordan and the Chicago Bulls vision of Fisheries and Wildlife is won their fourth NBA title and proposing its first increase in li- a gallon of gasoline cost $1.23. cense fees, to go in effect in 2022. In Massachusetts, resident To better inform the public of hunting and fishing licenses in- the rationale and license struc- creased to $22.50 and a trapping ture, MassWildlife is offering license rose to $30.50. a series of online informational Fishing and hunting license fees are scheduled to go up this year Despite drastic changes to sessions via Zoom throughout as they have not gone up in 25 years. as costs and services, and everyday life with the advent the month. The last will take declining revenues, The state’s Division of Fisheries and Wildlife has of the internet and smartphone place Tuesday, March 25 at 6:30 proposed the increases as its costs and services go up and revenues technology that connects people p.m. To participate, visit www. are declining. About 40,000 pheasants are raised by the state and to goods and services anywhere stocked on lands across the commonwealth. on the globe with the push of a Please see LICENSES, page 8 Page 2 TOWN Reminder April 2, 2021 Interim South Hadley superintendent tapped for position Committees choose sion,” said Westhampton School la Thompson, a member of the Committee member Morely Chesterfield-Goshen Commit- new superintendent Cleary. “I think that’s import- tee. “What we need is someone ant in a leader and especially in to provide a supportive environ- By Peter Spotts terms of what our district needs ment for staff and students in or- Staff writer to move forward.” der to best serve the kids.” Westhampton Committee Willard said one of the decid- WESTHAMPTON – Af- member Wesley Bowser said ing factors was during the site ter deliberating for three and a when making his pros and cons visit with South Hadley, with half hours, South Hadley Pub- lists of candidates, he struggled multiple people expressing to lic Schools Interim Superin- to find any cons for Choquette. the Hampshire Regional delega- tendent Diana Bonneville was “I was impressed with the tion the district would be lucky unanimously selected by the answers we were getting. A lot to have Bonneville. five Hampshire Regional School of my pros with her, within the “It was really hard ques- District School Committees to frame of the questions she got, tion to ask a school committee be the district’s next Superinten- blew it out of the water,” he said. member and that question had dent. As each round of straw poll- something to do with why isn’t Bonneville’s experience ing continued in 15-to-20-min- [Bonneville] your superinten- guiding South Hadley through ute segments, guided by Tracy dent,” Willard said. “The answer COVID-19, after stepping up Novik from the Massachusetts we received was ‘we are looking and taking the job as interim in Association of School Commit- for something extremely specif- December of 2019, was a cru- tees, more committee members ic and we happened to get what cial factor in setting her apart File Photo across the five committees began it was’…but every other person from the other three finalist South Hadley Interim Superintendent Diana Bonneville, right, was switching their votes to Diana at that site visit all reiterated the candidates. During that time, voted by the five school committees of the Hampshire Regional as the district worked collabora- same thing over and over, that she participated in a full budget District to be the district’s new superintendent on Monday, March tively to reach a consensus. they wanted her to be in their process and also participated in 29. Bonneville is pictures shaking South Hadley School committee “I was the person that had Dr. district so badly, they wanted her union negotiations while navi- chair Kyle Belanger’s hand during a meeting in Dec. 2019. Choquette as my first choice, but to be their full-time superinten- gating the difficult circumstanc- knowing it was very, very close dent, and they were all broken between my top choice and Dr. because she was not…I think es caused by COVID-19. and I don’t see anybody who fits School Principal Beth Choquette Bonneville,” Southampton’s that meant a lot.” “When we go back and look better than Diana,” said Trish also received multiple first place Austin Rogers said. “She [Bon- Following the lengthy debates through that whole brochure, this Colson-Montgomery. votes from several committee neville] comes from a position and discussion, all five school is the closest we’re going to get The five committees went members during the initial straw that she’s confident about…She committees made unanimous for what we’re asking for,” said into breakout rooms multiple polling among committees. The is committed.