We, the community of Groton-Dunstable Regional School District, have composed this statement to share our dissatisfaction with the current district leadership, namely Dr. Laura Chesson. We call on the School Committee to hold a vote of no confidence in the leadership of the superintendent, as we question her trustworthiness and actions as a leader of students, staff, and the broader educational community.

The community’s concern with district leadership has been increasing over the past three years. Communication from our superintendent is routinely lacking, inaccurate, or reactive. There has been no willingness to identify, acknowledge, or address concerns brought to the attention of the Superintendent or School Committee. Consultants and members of administration are being hired with disregard of the needs at individual school sites – many of these discretionary hires have strong personal connections to the Superintendent. Yet, our schools are facing high rates of turnover. We are losing veteran teachers, support staff, and building administrators. Given the current challenges to hire  educators, we demand clear, experienced leadership  focus on retaining the high-quality staff we still have left. 

During her four-year tenure, the Superintendent has failed to include teachers and other key stakeholders in the decision-making process that directly impacts teaching, learning, and the fostering of a nurturing, pro-social environment. This was most recently demonstrated in her treatment of teachers during the two public School Committee meetings on March 10, 2022. Further, there are minimal opportunities for faculty to communicate directly with the community about the exciting work being done in classrooms - everything is funneled and filtered through the administration.

Additionally, Dr. Chesson routinely dismisses or ignores community concerns on a wide variety of topics from hiring administration to issues of student safety. Her defensive posturing and aggressive tone used with parents have left families feeling disrespected, demeaned, and distrusted. She has a documented pattern of presenting inconsistent or  inaccurate information to the School Committee, demonstrating a lack of preparation or attention to detail. Her cavalier and public dismissal of parents and teachers, paired with unreliable presentations, has bred distrust across the district and throughout the community.

The community feels Dr. Chesson is inconsistent in her application of policies, making many decisions on her own and with little community input. Her overt and ongoing lack of respect toward many of the parents who have involved themselves in our public educational system is egregious. A school system cannot be run successfully with a one-way avenue of communication that rejects the input and concern of those the system is serving.  This lack of transparency creates distrust in her decisions as well as her intentions.

The reluctance to gather any feedback has created a hostile and unsafe environment in the community and the schools.  And when input is finally sought, it's usually reactive due to community outrage. The few times when input is actively sought;  there is a failure to follow through, or there is a total disregard for the idea and knowledge provided.

Community-wide morale is low; there is no confidence in Dr. Chesson’s abilities as a leader nor are we confident she will support the future of our educational system based on the needs of the remaining district staff or the students who reside in Groton and Dunstable.

After years of struggling under her one-sided leadership, the community urges our School Committee to do what's best for students. We do not have confidence in our current district leadership and urge you to remove Dr. Chesson from her role immediately. Make a change that will put our district back on the path to success that isn’t solely defined by MCAS scores.

For these reasons stated, we the undersigned are voting “No Confidence” in Dr. Chesson. We call on our elected representatives on the School Committee to support our petition, and begin the process to remove Dr. Chesson from her position as GDRSD’s Superintendent per Section VI of the Superintendent’s Contract.

Specifics:

In the past three years, there have been racist and antisemitic incidents as well as hate graffiti in our schools. Dr. Laura Chesson has demonstrated incompetence in her failure to appropriately react to, or provide viable solutions to reduce these incidents or create proceedures to approprioately respond to such acts of bias against marginalized members of the community throughout her tenure. 

Dr. Chesson was approached by parent groups multiple times over the past three regarding concerns around school climate and issues of safety, yet her lack of foresight and mismanagement allowed for incidents of bias and aggression to continue. Her failures were clearly obvious in her lack of a swift response to issues of discrimination, bias, and bullying as well as her continued disbelief in community reports of such incidents.

Dr. Chesson frequently fails to address concerns raised in parent emails, phone calls, or when questions are asked at School Committee meetings. When members of the community do have interactions about difficult topics, her demeanor is defensive and hostile. This total disregard for the community in which she serves is also evident during School Committee meetings, where her aggressive stance is directed at elected officials and teachers.

The Superintendent refuses to address parental concerns on a variety of issues,  including: how surveys are implemented, communication with families, creation of discretionary administrative roles, hiring of and retention of staff, lack of evidence based curriculum in the schools, effective and specific policy, transparency, mental health of students, and the continued preference of hiring employees  with personal connections to her.

Dr. Chesson has access to numerous high-quality professionals both within Groton Dunstable Schools, and the community at large, that she fails to leverage for the betterment of our students – even when these individuals volunteer their time on district sponsored committees. At one point, she went as far as to imply that a School Committee’s DEI/EDI advisory group’s suggestions were inconsequential as they “don’t speak for everyone.”

Still, community members offered their services and expertise, from data gathering and consulting to brainstorming and grass roots organization, yet Dr. Chesson has been steadfast in her resolve that she, alone, knows better than everyone else, regardless of the topic at hand. This failure to involve the community to help the community demonstrates blatant inefficiency, extreme hubris, as well as a lack of ability to collaborate with those around her.

During School Committee meetings Superintendent Chesson has been seen by the public to:

1. Interrupt speakers and mute School Committee members on zoom;
   text on her phone throughout the meeting;
2. Roll her eyes, raise her voice, or otherwise intimidate or disrespect members of the community, including parents, school committee members, and teachers, who raised valid concerns and questions; and, 
3. Interact with community members using a defensive, hostile tone, while questioning the validity of their experiences or dismissing concerns as anecdotal.

This unprofessional behavior is not how Groton Dunstable Regional School District should be represented, especially at the highest leadership position. Dr. Chesson is not a role model for our students as her behavior  clearly demonstrates conduct unbecoming of a Superintendent.

This petition has clearly proven the inefficiency, incompetence, insubordination, and conduct unbecoming of a Superintendent by Dr. Laura Chesson. We, the concerned citizens of Groton and Dunstable, vote No Confidence in her continued leadership, and we call on the School Committee of Groton and Dunstable to exercise Section VI of the Superintendent’s contract and remove her for cause.