Pelham School District Hiring of Chris Mazzone Needs Answers!

Pelham School Superintendent Chip McGee took over the reins of the Pelham School District on July 1, 2020, and one of the first things he did was to hire Chris Mazzone as principal of Pelham Memorial School.

Incredibly, McGee hired Mr. Mazzone without school board approval, despite the fact that the Pelham School board met twice in July, once on the first and again on the fifteenth where McGee could have nominated Mazzone for school board approval.

I believe that in hiring Mazzone all by himself, Supt. McGee violated NH RSA 189:39 which requires superintendents nominate, and school boards elect, all teachers (principals are considered teachers).

So why did this not happen? Why did the Pelham School Board allow McGee to hire Mazzone without their approval? The board had to have known Mazzone was hired, yet they never discussed or approved his hiring. This is very odd, and troublesome.

Given all of the above, I fear something is amiss in the Pelham School District. Hiring a former principal under the cloak of darkness, someone who was removed from his previous principalship, without school board discussion or approval reeks of an attempt to cover something up. The Pelham community deserves an explanation of how and why all of this took place.

Jeffrey Thomas Clay, M.Ed.