Hill, Donohue departures from GM mark latest changes at TRSU 3 of 5 schools must find new principals; 1 coming on board

By Shawn Cunningham and
Cynthia Prairie
© 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC

Green Mountain High Principal Keith Hill has announced that he is leaving the school at the end of this school year, almost two years to the day that he was first appointed in April 2021.

He announced to parents of students his decision in an email on Tuesday afternoon.

Not only does Hill’s decision send a shock through the Two Rivers Supervisory Union, but add to that the list of other departures that have or will put leadership of four of the five TRSU schools in flux.

At the same time as Hill’s announcement, GM Assistant Principal Ananda Donohue, who has been in her post for about a year, announced that she will leaving to take a position in elementary education in New York sate.

A week ago, Cavendish Town Elementary Principal Amy Bohren announced her resignation and a search for her replacement has begun. She is the third principal to leave that school since 2018, when longtime Principal George Thomson retired and Deb Beaupre of New Hampshire took that position. However, Beaupre left after two years and was replaced by Katherine Fogg, Chester-Andover Elementary School’s principal since 2015 who kept that position while adding CTES to her duties. Bohren took over from Fogg in July 2022.

More than a year ago, Fogg announced her retirement, effective at the end of this year, and the school board offered  Joanne Blane, an instructional coach for the Bennington-Rutland Supervisory Union and former teacher at Flood Brook School in Londonderry, a one-year contract as principal of CAES. Assistant Principal Nicole Luz will remain in place.

And Ludlow Elementary is in the process of interviewing for a new principal, following the announced retirement of Cathy Farman.

Hill was not only a graduate of GM, but for 15 years after was a social studies teacher prior to applying for the principal position.   In his email, he said that it was time to “take steps in other directions.  … I am proud of the impact I have had on the good works we are doing as a school. I will miss our students immensely.”  He added that in his two years as principal,  “we have been engaged in reconnecting and realigning our practices to meet the needs of the modern student. Great work is happening at GM and it will continue to grow and shift after I have departed.”

You can read the full text of the email here. 

Calls to Hill were not returned by deadline.

On Tuesday, Two Rivers Supervisory Union Superintendent Lauren Fierman said that the school board will begin a search for administrators to replace Hill and Donohue immediately.

This puts the schools of the Two Rivers Supervisory Union in an unusual position. Of the five schools – four elementary and one high school – four will have new principals next year.

In Ludlow, the search for a principal to replace Farman is down to two candidates – Debra Fishwick and Christine Pereira — who were to be meeting community members on Tuesday night ahead of a Ludlow Mount Holly district board meeting on Wednesday, April 12 when the board will be able to interview the candidates. Resumes for Fishwick and Pereira can be found here.