By Lisa Scagliotti, Waterbury Roundabout
The transitions continue with Waterbury’s representation on the Harwood Unified Union School District School Board as board member Jake Pitman on Friday, March 22 announced he would be stepping down to take the Harwood track and field team’s head coaching position.
A 2013 Harwood graduate, Pitman joined the school board in October 2022 when he was appointed to fill a vacancy. He then ran in 2023 for a full three-year term which ends in 2026.
“While this is a difficult decision, I know it's the right one,” he wrote in a letter to the full school board sharing his resignation news. “By directly working with students, I can impact the district more greatly than I can as a school board member. I have a degree in Human Development and Family Relations, but I work as an IT project manager for a health insurance company. Coaching is how I use my degree.”
Pitman’s hiring for the coaching position comes as the spring high school athletics season is about to start. For the past several years, he has worked as an assistant coach with the cross country program in the fall and with track and field in the spring.
To coach and serve on the school board simultaneously, Pitman had received a waiver from the state Agency of Education given that school district employees are prohibited from school board roles. The exemption came during the COVID-19 pandemic with consideration that the coaching role was part-time and Pitman was the sole applicant for the board vacancy.
In a statement to local newspapers, Pitman said he views the new coaching role as posing more of a conflict and warrants stepping away from the board position.
“Now that I am set to become a head coach, the contractual responsibilities that come along with this position – particularly with respect to the supervision and general well-being of students on the team – are too significant to be overlooked,” he said.
Last spring, Anissa Davis served as head coach for track and field. Davis has worked for many years as the school’s gymnastics coach each winter. The track coach position has been in flux for the past couple of years since longtime coach Taggert Haslam passed away in 2021. Pitman said he only recently learned that the head coaching opportunity was open.
Athletic director Ian Fraunfelder on Friday said now with Pitman in the lead role, “we are still working on rounding out the rest of the coaching staff for track,” this season.
In his letter to the school board, Pitman explained how he felt compelled to accept the coaching opportunity, recalling Haslam as his mentor when he was a member of the track team a little over a decade ago. Haslam’s unexpected death motivated him to become a coach, he said, calling it “the greatest decision I have made in my entire life. I did not realize I would love it as much as I do.”
It was through coaching, Pitman pointed out, that he decided to join the school board.
“I re-established a connection with the Harwood community through coaching. I desired to keep exploring ways I could give back to the school district and community that raised me,” he said, recalling how he volunteered to fill a Waterbury opening in 2022. “You all welcomed me so graciously. I am forever grateful to all of you for accepting me in the way that you did,” he wrote.
During board meetings and at recent community presentations to discuss needed renovations to Harwood Union High School, Pitman often contributes observations that come from his own experience from when he was a student and from his interactions with students now as a coach. That isn’t lost on board chair Ashley Woods of Warren, herself a Harwood alumna but a generation earlier than Pitman. “Jake’s unique perspective will be missed!” she said.
Process to fill board openings
With the largest population in the school district, Waterbury has four seats on the school board. Duxbury, Fayston, Moretown, Waitsfield and Warren each have two.
The board has been recruiting since January for candidates to fill two Waterbury positions after members Kelley Hackett and Marlena Tucker-Fishman ended their terms on Town Meeting Day and neither sought re-election. Victoria Taravella is the fourth Waterbury member and her term ends in 2025.
The school board recently put out a call for interested community members to apply for the positions with a deadline of next Wednesday, March 27. The school board would appoint new members to fill the seats to serve until Town Meeting Day in March 2025. At that point, the members could run for election or step aside.
The board’s process also involves local select boards when there is a vacancy to fill in between elections. In this case, information on applicants would be forwarded to the Waterbury Select Board which has its next meeting on Monday, April 1. The board would interview school board applicants and make a recommendation to the school board. The school board would then consider appointments at its April 10 meeting.
Woods confirmed on Saturday morning that there have been three applicants for the Waterbury seats so far: Elizabeth Brown, Dan Gwaltney and Dan Roscioli.
Offering thanks and encouragement
Pitman offered words of encouragement to his fellow board members given the task ahead to rework the 2024-25 budget after the defeat at the ballot box on Town Meeting Day earlier this month. “Good luck, everyone. You are the ones who have stepped up for the greater good of the district,” he wrote. “While everyone loves to shout their opinions, they cannot claim to be making the direct impact that you all do. Thank you all for not only just caring, but taking action to represent your personal ethics and values toward public education. I have met some wonderful individuals through this experience. It is one that I will never forget.”
He said he believes the board “is in excellent hands with Ashley Woods and [vice chair] Cindy Senning leading the way” along with Superintendent Mike Leichliter.
“I extend my best wishes toward the board as it moves through some turbulent times. Thankfully, I couldn't be more confident in its leadership,” he wrote.
When asked what he might say to those considering applying to join the board, Pitman reflected: “It is more fulfilling than one might realize. It's in the quiet moments, perhaps after a long and grueling board meeting where tough decisions had to be made, that you realize how important it is to have a seat at the table. Plus, the excellent character and values of your fellow board members becomes prevalent almost immediately. You feel proud to be one of them, and proud to be contributing to something bigger than yourself.”
Details on how to apply for one of the school board openings can be found here.
