The superintendent and director of the Patricia A. Hannaford Career Center in Middlebury, plagued by complaints, announced his retirement Friday.
Dana Peterson read a letter to the school board explaining his decision.
“It has become clear that my role has turned into a distraction within the District,” the letter read, before announcing his retirement at the end of the school year. “I am hopeful that my critics will cease making me a distraction from all of the good things going on here at PAHCC.”
In December, the Addison Independent published an extensive account of the complaints leveled against Peterson by his coworkers.
In an interview with VTDigger, Peterson stressed he was retiring, not resigning.
“Retiring is a good thing for me at this moment in time, and since I can do that at the end of this year, I thought that it would make things easier for everyone,” he said.
Asked if by distractions, he meant the allegations detailed by the Addison Independent, he said, “Well, I think it’s safe to say that there are a number of things, and that’s certainly a component. But they are distracting from the work that really needs to be done.”
“I personally disagree with any of the negative characterizations,” Peterson added, noting the school board had accepted his resignation.
Peterson had been principal of Woodstock Union Middle School before taking the superintendent and director position at the career center in 2017. The year before, he drew criticism from parents for authorizing a girls-only assembly discussing dress code violations, the Valley News reported.
Larry O’Connor, a special education teacher at nearby Middlebury Union High School and a member of the local teachers union, has been an outspoken critic of Peterson.
“I generally think it’s good news for everyone involved, and looking forward to working with the new school board or at least having our members work with the new school board to hire the next person,” O’Connor said of Peterson’s retirement.
“I think it’s great that members in the career center stuck together and had their voices heard and really pushed to make a point.”
Patricia Hannaford Career Center offers trade-based technical education classes for Addison County high schoolers and adults, as well as for students in other parts of the state.
The paper quoted the complaints of Jake Burnham, who taught at the career center for 11 years before resigning in 2021.
“Dana has so lost the trust of the faculty that it no longer matters what he has to offer; we are not receptive to it,” Burnham wrote in a March 2021 survey, according to the Independent. “Dana is possibly the most disrespectful colleague I have ever worked with and this includes someone who spit in my face.”
At a Dec. 13 meeting of the Addison Central School District board, O’Connor raised his concerns, saying the teachers union had tried to address its frustrations with Peterson, but had seen “no discernible improvements to conditions.”
The Addison Independent cited at least three career center employees who resigned in part due to Peterson’s behavior.
