Last September the Norwich Board of Education voted to place Superintendent Kristen Stringfellow on paid leave. The board acted when faced with ample evidence that Stringfellow presided over a hostile workplace. There were credible claims that she bullied those who would challenge her or question the administration.

A year has passed. A new school term is underway. Yet the Stringfellow situation remains unresolved. She is still on paid leave. So is the assistant superintendent, Tamara Gloster, who was suspended days later. An investigation drags on. Meanwhile, taxpayer money is used to pay double salaries — the salaries of the acting superintendent and the suspended superintendent, and of the acting assistant superintendent and the suspended superintendent.

This is unacceptable, and not just due to the cost, but also because of the dark cloud that continues to hover over the Norwich school system. The school board must do all in its power to bring this matter to a conclusion and provide for a clean start.

Initially the school board hired a consulting group to assess the situation in its school system, but it soon pulled out, confronted with a situation more serious than the work-climate tweaks it had signed up for. Since then, Hartford attorney Kyle McClain, who specializes in labor and education law at the Zangari Cohn Cuthbertson Duhl & Grello law firm, has conducted the inquiry.

Granted, the Norwich school board’s options are limited. It must balance the desire to wrap-up matters with the necessity to assure McClain does a thorough job. However, a year is a long time for this to continue.

In July of 2023, the Connecticut Education Association, parent union to the Norwich Teachers League, released results of surveys answered by 64 former teachers and 233 then current teachers. In the teacher survey, 96% of respondents expressed fear of retaliation by Stringfellow’s office if they expressed disagreement with leadership.

Former school administrators also spoke up about the poisoned work environment.

Given the lack of faith in her leadership, and the outright contempt for how she led the schools, there is no way Stringfellow can return as superintendent. The only question is the terms of her official departure and the fiscal settlement. Evidence gathered by McClain should be expected to strengthen the board’s hand. Stringfellow’s contract extends through the end of this school year.

The board got it right when a year ago it named Susan Lessard, former principal at John B. Stanton Elementary, as the acting superintendent. By all accounts, Lessard has fostered a supportive work environment and teacher retention has improved. The sooner the word acting can be removed from Lessard’s title, the better.

It remains a stain, however, that the Norwich Board of Education, which hired Stringfellow in 2019, remained so clueless for so long about the serious workplace problems. Instead, it handed Stringfellow glowing reviews, based on balanced budgets and the administration’s own assessment of its performance. It was not hearing from all voices. Going forward it must. And so must school boards across our region.

The Day editorial board meets with political, business and community leaders to formulate editorial viewpoints. It is composed of President and Publisher Timothy Dwyer, Executive Editor Izaskun E. Larraneta, Owen Poole, copy editor, and Lisa McGinley, retired deputy managing editor. The board operates independently from The Day newsroom.