John Buckley, the openly gay, now-former superintendent of Marblehead Public Schools, was pushed out of his job on Aug. 2 with no apparent reason given. But his support of LGBTQ+ and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion concerns are causing many locals to questions if Buckley’s forced resignation wasn’t “personally or ideologically driven.”
Reports the Boston Globe:
Buckey, who had spent the previous 15 years as a high school principal, most recently in Nantucket, was ready to make a change. Marblehead had a reputation for cycling through superintendents — with seven permanent or interim leaders since 2005 — and Buckey thought he might reverse the trend and bring some much-needed stability to district leadership. He moved to a condo in the historic Adams House at Fort Sewall Beach and became a regular at the Driftwood diner. He could see himself retiring here at the end of a long career.
“People have been so warm and welcoming and kind,” Buckey told a local realtor during a Zoom interview on the last day of his first month helming the district of roughly 2,600 students. “Perhaps, I’m a glass-half-full-type guy, but maybe it’s the best time to be a new superintendent.”
Buckey, 49, was out of a job a little more than three years later, forced on Aug. 2 to agree to resign, under a cloud of controversy that has outraged townspeople and shaken their faith in the local school system. The School Committee has offered only vague clues as to why its members sought to oust him, prompting widespread speculation about their motives — and whether they were personally or ideologically driven.
Not even Buckey knows why he was pushed out of his nearly $190,000 a year job.
“I have never been given any explanation, reason or motivation,” he said in a written response to questions from the Globe. (Buckey is bound by a non-disparagement clause in his settlement agreement with the district; his answers were reviewed by his attorney.) …
In 2021, controversy erupted over the display of a Black Lives Matter flag in the high school cafeteria, which Buckey defended, citing his commitment to Marblehead “becoming an anti-racist school district.” (Marblehead, with a population of roughly 20,000 people, is 96 percent white.) Last summer, Buckey urged the town to pass a $3 million tax override for schools that would have allowed the district, in part, to hire a new director of diversity, equity, and inclusion, galvanizing local critics. The override failed, but a vocal contingent of voters took to social media, accusing Buckey of trying to “infiltrate” the schools with his liberal agenda.
“There is definitely a group of folks who were anti-Buckey,” said Leigh Blander, a reporter for the Marblehead Current, a local news publication. “Buckey was very supportive of DEI … and, as a gay, married man, was very supportive of LGBTQ students and issues, and there definitely was a sense in the community that not everybody was comfortable with that.”
Read the complete Boston Globe article here.
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