Start all over: Entwistle declines Sharon position

The Sharon School Committee was left standing at the altar after George Entwistle III, who they courted as the next superintendent, backed out from the process Wednesday morning.

Less than 24 hours after the Sharon School Committee chose him in a 6-0-1 vote, Entwistle decided to withdraw from the search.

In a statement e-mailed to the committee Wednesday morning, the Falmouth, Maine superintendent stated he decided to stay with his current job.

"I discovered through the process that my work here [in Falmouth] is not done," Entwistle said in an interview yesterday morning. "I've invested a lot of energy, and we've got a lot of good programs going on."

Entwistle was the only candidate given a site visit. He said he proceeded cautiously.

"I knew when I made the decision that I made the right decision," he said.

School Committee Member Mitch Blaustein said the committee has several options now.

"Because he has dropped out, we need to discuss how to proceed," he said. "We could go back to the corps of people we didn't select, and choose new finalists from them."

Interim Superintendent Barbara Dunham is the only finalist left, but the committee could also go back to candidates they had previously ruled out.

"There are so many options," Blaustein said. "One option is to hire Barbara; another is to hire Barbara on an interim basis for next year again. We don't know how Barbara is going to respond."

Dunham declined to comment for this story.

Teachers system-wide were strongly backing Dunham, who has worked in the Sharon Public Schools for more than 30 years. Several of them have also voiced their displeasure with the committee's selection of Entwistle.

Entwistle said he was not aware of the teachers' opinions and that it didn't play a role in his decision.

As most school administration contracts have a provision requiring 90 days notice for leaving a position, the committee has a limited amount of time to make a decision for next year. Blaustein said that to hire someone outside Sharon Schools, they'd need to make that decision by July 1 so the person can start on Sept. 1.

School Committee Chairman Sam Liao said this turn of events would be discussed at the meeting on Wednesday.

"It will be one of the priorities at the meeting," he said. "We're still running a business here. Educating kids. That's our top priority."

Both Liao and Blaustein were hesitant to offer their personal opinions as what to do next.

"I think it's best not to say because everybody needs to get their thoughts together," Liao said. "It's not appropriate to venture what we might do at this time."

Entwistle said his current employers did not give him a new offer.

"I have a contract that was negotiated and in place a while ago that starts in July 1 of this year," he said.

In the e-mail sent to the school committee, Entwistle didn't offer specific reasons why he backed out so late in the process.

"After much analysis, reflection and soul-searching, I have made the decision not to accept, or to pursue any further, the Sharon Superintendent of Schools position," Entwistle wrote. "Sharon is a wonderful community and the Sharon Schools certainly (and rightly so!) are a great source of pride for the community...but for both personal and professional reasons I believe that we will all be best served by my decision.

"With a difficult decision being just now finalized, I did not want to delay my communication with you or cause you any unnecessary delay in moving ahead with your hiring of a superintendent. I appreciate the kind consideration that I have received and I am grateful for the energy expended by the members of the search committee."

The school committee had named Entwistle, Dunham, Randolph Superintendent Richard Silverman, and Christine Tyree as semifinalists in December. Entwistle and Dunham were the only two candidates considered for site visits, and the school committee opted to conduct one only for Entwistle.