AOE Instructs School Boards to Hire Superintendents for One Year Only

Education Secretary Zoie Saunders has instructed school districts searching for new superintendents to hire them only for interim, one-year positions because of the work under way to transform public education in Vermont.

The directive, some say, has the potential to destabilize and weaken school districts during a tumultuous time for the state’s education system. And it indicates that Gov. Phil Scott’s administration is doubling down on its push for school-district consolidation — even though reform legislation passed earlier this year only calls for voluntary mergers and is already hitting some logistical snags.

The education secretary is “getting a bit ahead of her skis,” said Margaret MacLean, a steering committee member of the Vermont Rural School Community Alliance, an advocacy group that counts more than 100 rural school boards and selectboards as members. “She’s acting as if the transformation process is a given, and nothing about this transformation is a given.”

Instead of assuming that mergers are a foregone conclusion, she said, the Scott administration should defer to the law. Act 170 gives merger study groups and local communities the power to decide whether consolidating districts makes sense.

“The governor signed a compromise,” MacLean said. “He needs to lead the compromise forward — not lead what he wanted [but] didn’t get.”

Over the summer, the Mountain Views Supervisory Union school board notified Saunders that it would be looking for a new superintendent because its long-term leader, Sherry Sousa, plans to retire next spring. Saunders told the board to hire for a one-year interim post and encouraged members to consider “the work that will need to be accomplished over the next year, including planning for potential mergers and other changes resulting from statewide education transformation.”

Her power to direct districts in such a way, Saunders explained, is contained in a state statute that says school boards may employ a superintendent “with the advice of a secretary.”

Limiting superintendent contracts while consolidation is on the table is also a practical decision, according to Toren Ballard, the Agency of Education’s director of policy and communications. Customarily, when superintendents are terminated before their contracts expire, they are eligible for a buyout, which can be costly.

“A newly formed district … should not be put into the position of being obligated to pay out one or more years of superintendent salary upon separation,” he wrote in an email. “The best time to begin this approach is this year, rather than waiting for various contract terms of 2, 3, or more years to expire.”

The secretary has “a statutory responsibility … to provide advice on superintendent appointments,” Ballard added.

“Achieving greater scale is an explicit component” of the new legislation, Ballard wrote, “which creates distinct considerations for district leadership during a period of statewide transformation.”

Ballard said there is precedent for Saunders’ instruction: In the aftermath of Act 46, the 2015 law that incentivized school districts to merge, then-education secretary Rebecca Holcombe also recommended that new superintendents be hired under one-year contracts. As evidence, Ballard shared two letters Holcombe wrote to the Orange East Supervisory Union in 2017 and 2018 authorizing the board to hire an interim superintendent for one year.

Holcombe — now a Democratic state rep from Norwich who is not running for reelection — declined to comment. But Vermont School Boards Association executive director Sue Ceglowski told Seven Days that Holcombe’s letter to Orange East was prompted by unique circumstances in that district, as opposed to Saunders’ “blanket approach” now.

Mark Oettinger, a lawyer who served as general counsel for the Agency of Education from 2007 to 2013, said that, in general, state statutes are often written to require the “advice and consent” of the executive branch. But, he added, “the consent part is notably missing” from the specific statute Saunders cited in justifying her directive to school districts.

Still, Oettinger said, he understands why the education agency would want to recommend parameters on superintendent contracts during such an uncertain period for the state’s educational system.

On Monday, Mountain Views school board chair Keri Bristow told Seven Days that, after consulting with her district’s lawyer, she doesn’t believe Saunders has the legal authority to dictate the terms of the superintendent’s contract. Mountain Views, Bristow said, would move ahead with advertising for a two-year position.

Meanwhile, Washington Central Supervisory Union — which is looking for a new superintendent after Steven Dellinger-Pate unexpectedly resigned in June — received a similar message from the state. The secretary warned the district against “locking into a long-term contract that would potentially not be sustainable based upon the state work,” board chair Diane Nichols-Fleming said.

Hiring a superintendent is the most important job a school board performs, according to Flor Diaz Smith, who serves on the Washington Central board and as president of the Vermont School Boards Association. Limiting the search to candidates who will accept a one-year position makes it harder to find high-quality candidates, she said.

Furthermore, she said, even if districts do decide to merge, Act 170 gives them until August 2029, which makes the rationale for a one-year-limit unclear.

Mark Koenig, the board chair of the Addison Northwest School District, made that point to Saunders in August, asking her in an email to let the district offer a two-year contract. His district’s superintendent, Sheila Soule, plans to retire after this school year.

“If districts are expected to undertake thoughtful, good-faith merger studies and maintain high-quality educational services throughout that process,” Koenig wrote, “they need the ability to recruit leaders who are willing to commit to doing that work.”

Saunders denied the request, noting that school boards could renew a superintendent’s contract annually.

“I encourage you to recruit an interim superintendent who understands the direction of the transformation, is comfortable navigating uncertainty, and is prepared not only to lead the district as it exists today, but to help inform system-level change,” Saunders wrote.

While Saunders and the governor seem outwardly confident in transforming the education system, other signs point to a bumpier process. Under Act 170, approximately 20 merger committees are required to hold their first meetings by October 15. But trying to create those committees has already proven complicated.

While Act 170 recommends merger committee groupings, it also allows school boards to request a move to another committee — essentially letting them pick different potential merger partners. But the law does not specify how those requests should be handled.

Already, 11 school boards have requested to join a different group, according to lead merger study committee facilitator Dave Younce. He’s tasked with overseeing seven facilitators who will work with the merger groups to consider potential partnerships.

Younce said he was collecting board requests and hoped to finalize the groupings by the end of this week.

Harwood Unified Union’s school board voted unanimously on September 9 to request a move from a merger committee with districts including Barre Unified Union and Montpelier Roxbury to one made up of Champlain Valley and Mount Mansfield Unified Union.

Harwood superintendent Mike Leichliter said the situation shows that Act 170 left out key implementation details.

“The Legislature established an ambitious process on a very compressed timeline, and some of the practical and legal mechanics are being worked out as districts encounter them,” Leichliter wrote in an email to Seven Days. “There are simply places where the legislation does not provide a clear procedural roadmap.” ➆

The original print version of this article was headlined “Seeking Short-Timers | Vermont’s education secretary is telling school boards to hire only interim superintendents potential mergers loom”

This article appears in Performing Arts Preview • 2026.

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