ABSTRACT
You will recall that Claire Sheff accepted a position as a superintendent in a New Jersey school district. John McLean succeeded Claire as Hull superintendent in July 1993. He served until 1999, when the school board voted not to renew his contract. There is a long story behind that decision, with several different points of view, as there usually is when a superintendent’s contract is not renewed. But in this case, it may be more a story about a town awakening than a superintendent’s departure. David Kellem, a prominent attorney in town, a school board member from 1989 to 1995, and a founder of the Hull Academic Support Committee (HASC), perhaps tells it best in a recent interview with me:
When I was serving on the board, our biggest problem was that we didn’t admit to our problems and confront them directly. We wanted to protect the schools and were disconnected from what was really happening in them. There would be a nice presentation by the superintendent at every board meeting.
