Pembroke and Deerfield superintendent is latest leader to announce her departure from the district

Superintendent Patty Sherman at a Pembroke school meeting in 2016. Monitor file
Published: 12-19-2024 5:15 PM |
Complicating the road forward for the Pembroke school district is yet another high-profile departure, this time from Superintendent Patty Sherman, who announced that she will retire at the end of the school year.
Sherman becomes the latest district leader to depart since voters in Pembroke rejected a $3 million budget increase requested by the school board last spring.
That decision has led to an erosion of personnel at all levels of the district. Already this year, the principal of the middle school and the headmaster of the high school in Pembroke have left or announced they will do so.
Sherman, who has served as co-superintendent of the Suncook-area SAU since 2012 and in other administrative roles before that, will leave behind a mixed legacy.
“It's been 25 years and it's time for a change not just for her, but for us,” said Kerri Dean, a member of the SAU 53 Executive Board and a Pembroke School Board member.
Dean described Sherman as a hard worker who keeps her schools’ “best interest in the forefront” of her mind. She applauded Sherman for hiring high-quality leaders to serve below her.
Under her leadership, Pembroke’s schools and teachers won statewide awards for excellence, Deerfield students secured school choice for their high schoolers, and Sherman steered both towns through the rocky landscape of education during the pandemic. But Sherman has also been plagued by complaints about transparency throughout her tenure. In one high-profile incident in 2016, after a school administrator at Pembroke Academy was arrested for bringing heroin into the school building, parents criticized Sherman for refusing to share information about what had happened, citing privacy laws.
“I think that some people think she’s done a great job, and I think other people may say that she could have done things differently and handled things differently,” said Dean.
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Sherman began in the district as a student services director, before being promoted to assistant superintendent and then co-superintendent, according to Dean.
Sherman did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.
“Working in public education is not for the faint of heart but it is well worth it when you have the privilege of working with such outstanding school boards, administrators, staff, students and families,” Sherman wrote in a letter to families announcing her decision to retire. “The biggest commonality we all share is that we are devoted to the students and always put them first.”
She shares the superintendent responsibilities for the SAU – which includes Pembroke, Deerfield, Allenstown, Epsom, and Chichester – with second-year co-superintendent Jack Finley.
Sherman informed the Deerfield and Pembroke school boards of her decision to retire on Dec. 3, according to Dean, the same day that Pembroke Academy Headmaster Dan Morris announced he would resign at the end of the year, as well.
“The budget cut that we had last year, not only put a lot of stress on our teachers, and on Dan, but it put a lot of stress on Patty also,” Dean said. “After 25 years, we kind of hoped we’d have her for a few more years and maybe we’d have somebody in line to take her position, but she’s just burned out.”
Andy Camidge, the chair of the Pembroke School Board, applauded Sherman for her service to the district.
“I’ve been on the board for 6 years and Patty has guided the district through a ton of stuff, including Covid,” Pembroke school board chair Andy Camidge said. “She’s done it with grace and I’m super happy with how she has handled the superintendent role for us.”
The chair of the Deerfield School Board, Kendra Cohen, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Dean said the SAU will now pivot to finding a new superintendent. At an emergency meeting held earlier this week, the executive board considered, but ultimately rejected, the possibility of consolidating the superintendent role from two positions into one.
Dean said it will be challenging to fill Sherman’s role both because of the general lack of qualified candidates and because of the district’s current reputation.
“Who’s going to want to come to a district that could be facing another budget cut and could be drowning before they even start?” Dean said. “But then I look at it on the other side, and I think there’s somebody out there who wants these types of challenges.”
The challenges the next superintendent will face in Pembroke are significant. The district eliminated 27 positions this year and another 25 staff members left of their own volition, according to a document prepared by district administrators. Teachers who remain have said in interviews that they are struggling to manage the additional responsibilities they have.
Next year’s school budget is calling for a $2 million increase, which could further strain tensions between taxpayers and the school district.
“I’m hopeful that we’re going to get some new fresh ideas – not to say she didn’t have ideas – but just a new perspective,” Dean said.
Jeremy Margolis can be contacted at jmargolis@cmonitor.com.