Harrington said he and Kane have long disagreed, politically.
James "Chip" Harrington, left, and Theresa Kane, right.LUDLOW – Former School Superintendent Theresa M. Kane said she disputes a statement by School Committee member James P. “Chip” Harrington that Lisa Nemeth was the first choice of a search committee a year ago to serve as principal of Ludlow High School.
Kane said the Search Committee gave her a list of finalists for the job. The list was not ranked, she said.
“I appointed Gina Flanagan to the position,” Kane said. “It is the superintendent who chooses,” she said.
Flanagan this spring resigned the position to take a job as principal of East Longmeadow High School.
The new interim superintendent, Kenneth J. Grew, offered the high school principal position to Nemeth, and Nemeth has accepted the position.
Nemeth has been an assistant principal at Chicopee High School.
Harrington said he does not dispute that it was Kane’s prerogative to hire Flanagan for the high school principal job.
He repeated, however, that Nemeth was the first choice of the search committee, which he said ranked the finalists.
“Maybe she did not understand that the committee had ranked the finalists,” Harrington said of Kane.
Kane announced in February that she was leaving the Ludlow superintendent position to take a job as superintendent of the East Windsor, Conn., school system. Kane left July 1.
Kane said she believes Nemeth, who lives in Ludlow, will be a good fit for the Ludlow High School principal job. In fact, she said she has a high school principal position to fill in East Windsor, and called Nemeth to see if she would be interested in the job.
Kane said she read Harrington’s comments about the high school principal position on MassLive.com.
Harrington said he and Kane have long disagreed, politically, on a variety of issues pertaining to the schools. “She dislikes hearing the sound of my voice,” he said.