National Review
Massachusetts School Pulls Job Offer after Candidate Calls Female Co-Workers ‘Ladies’ in Email
By ARI BLAFF
April 3, 2023 1:18 PM
Vito Perrone, a candidate applying for the position of superintendent at Easthampton Public Schools, had his job offer pulled because he addressed two female colleagues in an email as “ladies.”
In the midst of hammering out details related to his superintendent contract with the school district located just north of Springfield, Mass., Perrone sent an email to the School Committee chairperson Cynthia Kwiecinski and Suzanne Colby, an executive assistant, with the fateful introductory greeting.
The salutation was interpreted by Kwiecinski as a microaggression made all the more damning because of “the fact that [I] didn’t know that as an educator [it] was a problem,” Perrone told the Daily Hampshire Gazette.
“I was shocked,” Perrone told the local newspaper. “I grew up in a time when ‘ladies’ and ‘gentlemen’ was a sign of respect. I didn’t intend to insult anyone,” he said.
During a fundraising event at the high school shortly thereafter, Perone was informed that executives decided to rescind the employment offer. While Kwiecinski and fellow committee member Marin Goldstein have declined to publicly comment on the matter citing confidentiality, Perrone decided to publicize the incident on Saturday.
“I don’t want people to think I was not willing to negotiate in good faith. I have chosen not to just leave it as ‘negotiations stalled.’ I would rather share my truth, my sadness and disappointment and try to find a way forward positively,” the administrator who was willing to take a $14,000 pay cut for the position, told the Daily Hampshire Gazette.
Perone, who was the principal of Easthampton High School from 2009 to 2015, remains deeply frustrated at the missed opportunity.
“Honestly, I am truly, truly disappointed that I won’t be in Easthampton in that building,” he said. “I’m just sad.”
Kwiecinski has stated that the School Committee will reconvene on Tuesday night to discuss the continued search for the unfilled superintendent position.
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