The constituents of the Rutland Northeast Supervisory Union request that the RNESU Board refrain from hiring a new Superintendent, specifically Jeanne Collins, until the search for a candidate is reopened and one or more applicants WITHOUT ADVERSARIAL PERFORMANCE HISTORY are available for consideration. Until that time, we request that an interim Superintendent other than Collins be hired on a temporary and supervised basis while the search for an appropriate candidate continues.

Jeanne Collins has served as Superintendent in Burlington since 2005. After multi-million dollar budgetary deficits and actionable unpaid tax violations, complaints and public outcry forced Burlington to seek legally protective action severing Collins' employment. The district has incurred untold legal cost to facilitate her departure and will pay her $225,000 in severance. Her position there officially ends on June 30th, two years ahead of her contract. Presently, Burlington is seeking an interim Superintendent to temporarily replace Collins in their district.

The RNESU Board is now considering offering a long term, permanent position to Collins as Superintendent of our district, a choice that would be willfully negligent at best and ethically intolerable at worst. The children and taxpayers of our district, particularly after two years of unrest and broken trust in the RNESU CEO, deserve better representation than this option. If the Burlington school district sees fit to seek an interim hire to escape Jeanne Collins’ leadership, our district should certainly do so to avoid hiring her in haste.

Please sign this petition, share wherever possible, and rally support among those you know in our school district to make our community's voice heard. Thank you.