From: Douglas Dias [ddias@williamstownelementary.

org]
Sent: Friday, November 4, 2016 12:01 PM
Cc: Sanford, Sarah; Fred Dupere
Subject: Letter to SC Members

November 3, 2016

To the members of the Williamstown, Mt. Greylock, and Lanesborough School Committees,

This letter is meant to offer some balance to the documents provided in the recent school committee
packets.

First, regardless of what has been claimed, I want to help ensure that the progress and successes during
the last school year continue, and not distract the districts from maintaining focus on the school building
project, regionalization, and ever-present need to improve student learning. I am proud of the work we
have accomplished together in updating the regional agreement, dealing with building maintenance and
influenza issues, obtaining the debt-exclusion votes from both towns, managing the first-time fiscal
challenges for a school, and most recently, sharing that all three schools are now ranked as Level 1 by
DESE.

As some of you may know, over the past six months I have been challenged by attempting to fulfill the
role of superintendent for our three districts while living with the burden of having my family far away. I
have also had the additional challenge resulting from both of my parents having separate and debilitating
medical issues requiring hospitalization. As my brother, who lives in Pennsylvania, and I traveled to assist
with managing care for their mental and physical deterioration, we slowly came to the realization that my
mother would never return to her home or live with my father again. Since June, my attention on them, my
own family, and the responsibilities demanded by my unique and challenging job, has resulted in a level
of performance that I have found frustrating.

During my entire administrative career I have trained and prepared for working in a single district, with a
sole school committee. With enthusiasm I came to this job and these districts with the idea of using my
seventeen years of school administration experience to build upon the success already established in the
three schools. I am proud of the fact that we were able to successfully do so in each of the districts.
Admittedly, as an un-mentored, new superintendent there are things that I would like to do over, or
correct; however, this is not always possible.

As you are aware, my position as the superintendent of multiple districts is rather unique for
Massachusetts. There are challenges and adversities that I encounter for which my many years of
experience had not prepared me. At the MASC Conference, I had a conversation with a superintendent
who was presenting a seminar entitled Best Practices in the Boardroom with Dorothy Presser, of MASC.
At Dorothys suggestion, we talked after the session was over. The superintendent shared with me that
she found her meeting schedule, when coupled with the workload of leading two elementary and a
middle/high school, to be untenable. Last year she gave her committees an ultimatum- either they met
every other month, or look for a new superintendent. To her surprise, they agreed. Admittedly, her
districts are smaller, and she spoke of their desire to regionalize, but the similarities are too many to

ignore.

As I recognize the immense and serious responsibilities that each school committee has in front of them, I
would like to use the meeting on Monday as an opportunity to look at moving forward, rather than be
confrontational in countering allegations or explaining and rationalizing each minute decision made
across the three districts. As such, I would like our meeting to be focused on ways we can stand upon the
successes that have taken place over my tenure and work together to find a way to satisfy both the needs
of the districts as well as my own professional and personal needs.

As always, please feel free to call me on my cell with thoughts or questions.

Sincerely

Doug

-Douglas Dias, Ed.D.

Superintendent
Lanesborough School District
Mt. Greylock Regional School District
Williamstown School District