Rochester Teachers Raised ?Many Concerns? About District Leadership

CONCORD, NH ? Teachers in Rochester and now, in Concord are raising concerns about the hiring of a former school superintendent to lead one of the city?s more difficult elementary schools.

Kyle Repucci, the former school superintendent of SAU 54 in Rochester, was hired earlier this month by the Concord Board of Education to be the new principal at the Broken Ground Elementary School despite being involved in a wrongful termination suit during his interviewing process in Concord, related to accusations of him and another school board member spying on school board members and requesting access to spy on the emails of school board members, who were his bosses, according to court documents.

The lawsuit has since been settled with both parties ? the former IT director for the school who, after 23 years, was fired, and the Rochester school district, pleased with the outcome.

Patch has learned Repucci was reportedly interviewed with the search committee in March ? a month before the lawsuit was settled and two months before the settlement paperwork was filed with the court and the case closed. School Superintendent Kathleen Murphy, in a previous interview, said she was told by Repucci that the lawsuit had been settled.

Repucci, who was supposed to stay in Rochester until the end of June, was bought out of his contract early.

Moments after being hired in Concord, board members, teachers at Broken Ground, union officials, the press, and others were flooded with information about the lawsuit and other issues raised by teachers and administrators surrounding his tenure in Rochester.

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One accusation involved concerns about the district?s leadership in 2023 raised by teachers and administrators after educators and staff began leaving and filing grievances and complaints. Those concerns were brought to the Rochester school board in nonpublic meetings due to it being a personnel issue.

Carrie Feyler, the president of the RFT, the union that represents teachers and paraprofessionals, on behalf of her executive board, confirmed the organization?s involvement in at least one of those complaints. The union distributed ?a workplace satisfaction survey? about a year ago of its members.

?After reviewing the result,? she said, ?it was clear that there were many concerns regarding district leadership, and we felt it important to address these concerns for our members.?

Feyler said the results were shared with members, and a decision was made to present them to the full Rochester School Board. That meeting was held in August 2023 ? about four months before Repucci announced in December 2023 that he would leave the district at the end of the school year.

In notes on the Rochester community Facebook page, residents of the Lilac City appear thankful Repucci is no longer in their district.

?Glad he?s gone,? wrote one woman, ?good luck, Concord!?

Another woman wrote, ?Gooood LUCK to Concord with this guy! From superintendent to principal?. You deserved the demotion, Kyle.?

?Good riddance,? a man wrote. ?Can?t say you will be missed, Kyle.?

Feyler seemed to present similar sentiments.

?The RFT is looking forward to working with our current assistant superintendent (Alison Bryant) as well as our incoming superintendent (Annie Azarloza) to reestablish the positive working relationship that RFT has always had with district leadership,? she said.

On Tuesday, the Rochester School Board also offered a statement concerning Azarloza, who is coming in early on a per diem basis.

?The school board has the utmost confidence in Alison and Annie to bring the Rochester School District to where we want it to be,? the board said.

Neither Justin Roy, the principal of Spaulding High School, who is also the leader of the Rochester Administrative Unit, nor Jeffrey Padellaro, the president of Teamsters 633, returned an email seeking comment about the RAU report.

Concerns Now In Concord

During the past two weeks, concerns have been raised in the Concord community, including with parents and educators at Broken Ground and the public at large, about the Repucci hired.

Members of the search committee have refused to speak about the process and were shielded by Murphy when she declined a public record request of committee members saying she did so to protect them.

But now, some hiring committee members are privately raising questions about their role.

Mike Macri, the president of the Concord Education Association, agreed to speak on their behalf, affirming the concerns.

Macri confirmed during the first round of questions of the candidates for the principal position, the interviewees were given scripted questions by the central office and told not to deviate from the script or ask follow-up questions ? a strange interviewing process when trying to find a qualified candidate for such a serious position. In the second round of questions, there was a little more flexibility, he said. But ?to a person,? they were impressed with Repucci during the interview and said he did ?a wonderful job,? Macri said.

?They were never given any negative information,? he said. ?The committee had no knowledge of the lawsuit when they were interviewing him.?

Then, he said, the teachers started getting emails and phone calls, allegations began to surface, and they, too, went to the Internet and instantly found some the previous press coverage about Repucci and the wrongful termination lawsuit as well as comments on Facebook chat boards about problems in the district.

The members, he said, were stunned.

?They are feeling like, ?We made a mistake ? we didn?t know any information,?? Macri said. ??Everyone is pointing fingers at us, and we were going into this blind.? It was crushing for them.?

Educators on the committee now do not know what to make of the hire or the process.

The SAU 8 school board held a city and community relations meeting, a distinguished educators and retiree celebration, and a special board meeting on Wednesday. At the end of the special board meeting, board members went into a nonpublic session to discuss a personnel matter.

It is unknown if the meeting involved the Repucci hiring.

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