The Amherst Current

School Administrators Accuse Superintendent of Intimidation, Retaliation

By David Porter and Allison McDonald

School Superintendent Dr. E. Xiomara Herman has created a climate of fear and intimidation in her first six months on the job, including veiled threats of violence by her and an ally in the office, according to allegations made in a letter written by 12 district administrators and shared with The Amherst Current.

The Current spoke with six of the letter writers and the superintendent about the allegations.

One of the allegations, that Herman told others in the office that she wanted to “beat up” an administrator she suspected of writing an anonymous letter to the School Committee in November, is the subject of an investigation by an outside law firm retained by the School Committee. The person to whom the threat was allegedly made requested not to be identified, but confirmed the existence of the investigation. Three other people familiar with the matter, including the superintendent, also confirmed that there is an ongoing investigation.  

The Regional School Committee met in executive session on Dec. 23 to review complaints against Herman, and has scheduled a special executive session for this Wednesday for more discussion.  

Dr. E. Xiomara Herman; image via LinkedIn

In an interview with The Current on Monday, Herman denied the allegations and called them “a defamation of my character.” She said the investigation began in January after concerns were brought to the School Committee in December, and that she is cooperating fully.

Herman said her alleged comments were “taken out of context and misconstrued, and that will come out in the investigation.”

The letter from the administrators, which was sent to the School Committee on Jan. 17, also recounts an incident in which Nyby Douglas, a former assistant to Herman who is now the chief compliance & procurement officer for the district, allegedly said that “if anyone messed with Dr. Xi or her, Douglas’s brother, who was a military sniper, would immediately come to Amherst to take them out.” Two people who contributed to the letter, and who requested anonymity due to their fear of retaliation, told The Current they were present when the comment was made.

The letter also recounts a professional meeting with several administrators, including Herman and the director of human resources, Jennifer Ortiz, in which Douglas described in lurid detail a trip to a strip club. Two people who contributed to the letter told The Current they were present at the meeting when the comments were made.

Herman told The Current that she couldn’t discuss details about Douglas’s alleged comments because it is a personnel matter, but that she had spoken to Douglas to address the situation and “talked about being professional at all times.”

The letter also alleges that “retaliatory moves are already being made against administrators who have spoken up.” Four of the letter writers told The Current that they’ve experienced public reprimands, personnel reprimands for previously approved absences, abrupt ostracization (including exclusion from meetings that are critical to their responsibilities), and unexplained removal of responsibilities, soon after they expressed concerns to Herman or Ortiz. 

Herman also asked administrators to sign a confidentiality agreement that prevented them from discussing workplace matters, even with their spouses, according to the Jan. 17 letter. A copy of the agreement was obtained by The Current.

One administrator told The Current that the school climate is like a “reign of terror.” An elementary school principal said that there are “high levels of tension” among district leaders and that they believe the district is “heading for a little bit of a disaster.”

Herman told The Current that her leadership style is different. “My directness in saying, ‘No, I don’t agree with that, why was that done, just asking those questions can be seen by some as overly assertive or aggressive,” she said. “But that’s not my intent. My shift in leadership style is not what they are accustomed to. There’s a level of discomfort with change.”

The letter writers told The Current they had had high hopes for positive change when Herman was hired. One administrator said, “I wanted her to succeed. I would’ve done anything to help her be successful in this district.” 

Herman was one of three finalists in a national search for a new superintendent after Mike Morris left in 2023. She was hired last May and began as superintendent on July 1.

Image by Allison McDonald

The allegations have surfaced at the same time that Herman has been in renewed contract negotiations with the School Committee, which began in October and which one member with knowledge of the matter told The Current is about increased compensation for the current year. The School Committee has not discussed or yet voted on any additional compensation in public meetings, although the state’s open meeting law does not allow deliberations on pay increases outside of a contract negotiation to be done in executive session.

Note: the school district has issued this statement from Herman that was emailed today to media outlets and to all district staff. This post has been updated to add links to the confidentiality agreement that administrators were asked to sign.

David Porter grew up in Amherst and spent many years as a sports and courts writer for the Associated Press. He returned to Amherst with his wife, son, and cat.

Allison McDonald has lived in Amherst since 2002 and has two sons who attended Amherst public schools. She served on the Amherst School Committee 2018-2023, and as chair 2020-2023. She volunteers as managing editor of The Amherst Current.

9 comments

  1. I am deeply disturbed by this reporting which feels under-investigated and premature, at best, and irresponsible at worst. I am a parent in the school system and have watched as Dr. Xi has given her all to understanding years of dysfunction in our system – a system that has almost no procedures in place to handle personnel issues and in which employees are routinely awarded money by our town when they threaten suit. Dr. Xi’s engagement with our school community, her extraordinarily impressive report on the work our system needs to engage in order to implement professional systems of accountability; her steadfast strength and equilibrium when personally attacked – are exactly what we need in a leader. The question is: who benefits from our system’s dysfunction? Whose power is in check when someone from the outside comes in and tries to implement change? I don’t know the answer to these questions but I have seen this kind of drama unfurl enough times in this community to know that this kind of sensationalist reporting doesn’t help us fix the problems.

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      • Thank you for the copy of the letter. Regardless of the merit of these allegations, they should be taken within the context of a) someone who was very quickly – and anonymously – personally attacked in a new job (Dr. Xi) and b) people from a different culture with a possibly different senses of humor and engagement from ours. I know a lot of teachers in a number of districts in and out of Amherst and have heard countless stories of uncomfortable power dynamics with Superintendents. I very much hope for our Superintendent to be open, fair, and gracious but more than anything I want them to be effective at getting to the root causes of systemic problems in our district and at offering actionable solutions. Dr. Xi and her team produced an extremely detailed and specific (over 400-page) report looking into exactly that (maybe report on some of those findings?) It doesn’t surprise me that they have had to put a lot of their attention on that (as well as ongoing caregiver engagement that is clearly their top priority – for which this parent is grateful) to the exclusion of other things. It also wouldn’t surprise me if they felt they had to bring in a new team if members of the team they inherited behave in a way to undermine their authority. Which is not to say that the allegations in the letter are baseless, just that I sincerely hope we don’t allow them to blow up in such a way that we lose yet another highly qualified (and, from what I’ve seen, highly skilled) Superintendent.

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  2. I am disappointed in this post, which as another commenter stated, feels under-investigated. I would like to see reporting include discussion of Dr. Xi’s December 2024 Report on Entry Findings (link below) which I do not believe the Amherst Current has covered to date. The video recording of the presentation is available at approx one hour into the meeting (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkY39N8uB9A&t=4379s). Other local media has covered it (https://www.gazettenet.com/Amherst-superintendent-outlines-entry-plan-findings-in-443-page-report-58646809 and https://www.amherstindy.org/2024/12/27/dramatic-budget-cuts-loom-large-at-school-committee-meeting.

    This comprehensive report outlines many of the challenges within the districts that Dr. Xi is attempting to address and makes numerous points that seem relevant to this post including the following:
    “ARPS faces resistance to change, where some stakeholders prioritize familiar approaches or individual interests over broader district goals. This dynamic is compounded by a preference for maintaining the status quo, reluctance to confront hard truths, and a focus on protecting personal priorities rather than fostering equitable or equal services. Addressing these challenges requires building a shared commitment to innovation, transparency, and a collective focus on what best serves all students and the community.” (Page 62)
    “Perhaps most concerning is the culture of skepticism that has developed due to
    frequent Leadership turnover. A pattern of “waiting out” leadership has emerged,
    accompanied by a playbook of strategies to discredit and remove leaders. This cycle
    stifles progress and creates a sense of instability that permeates the district.” (Page 8)
    (https://go.boarddocs.com/ma/arps/Board.nsf/files/DC2UBW7B4CEB/$file/Dr.%20Xi's%20Entry%20Report%20Findings%20(2).pdf)

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  3. Let’s stay focused on ensuring a safe, high-quality, and consistent student experience. It’s going to take a lot of time and hard work to get there. Hiring Dr Xi into chaos with an immediate expectation for her to fix everything while being hyper-scrutinized to this degree is a perfect example of the “glass cliff” phenomenon faced by Black women leaders: https://www.popsugar.com/careers/black-women-leadership-glass-cliff-49331024

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  4. I appreciate the important role that the Amherst Current plays in our local news and the efforts the journalists put into speaking directly to the people involved in their reporting within a short time frame. However, what I think is missing from this reporting, and would be a good topic for a future article, is how this fits into the longer-term patterns of the district being an inhospitable place for the women and BIPOC school leaders.

    Most pointedly, former Superintendent Michael Morris commissioned a study [https://www.scribd.com/document/558897901/Amherst-Pelham-Regional-Public-Schools-Supporting-and-Retaining-School-Leaders] because of his concern about the high level of school leadership turnover in the Amherst Regional School District. Quoting from the report: “It is worth noting that the longest serving administrators (Superintendent and three principals) are all white men. It is also noteworthy that most of the principals who have left the district have been women.”

    This report also identifies 5 challenges to working in the district including three directly relevant to this situation: (1) Public Criticism Turns Personal, (2) Variations in Staff Relational Trust, (3) Social Justice – Mixed Message on Meaningful Change.

    After reading this report and understanding the organizational and racial and gender context in which these recent events have taken place, it is not surprising that the district’s new Black female superintendent (from another culture) would face anonymous criticism from staff. It is wholly predictable.

    Viewed from this perspective, the question not *only* identifying the facts behind the anonymous accusations and providing a transparent process, it is, how can we use our local history to *not* repeat the failures of the past? Specifically, on a day in which our new President is decimating federal DEI laws, what do we stand for as a community in Amherst, Pelham, Shutesbury and Leverett? What are we willing to do when confronted with predictable resistance to change led by a highly educated competent Black woman? What support are leaders such as Dr. Xi owed so as not to be personally damaged by attacks that “feel personal”?

    We must do better than our own Amherst Regional School District Past. This specific time and place require us to do so. Telling the story of current leadership events in the context of the past is one first step. I encourage the School Committee to view the current events in the light of our recent past.

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  5. An interesting turn of events. Too early to know where the truth lies, but I would not automatically assume an explanation based on wishful rationalization, nor imaginary facts not in evidence.

    How much institutional change/adaptation – by the Superintendent, the admin and staff, the students, and the community – was anticipated? Were those expectations made clear to all?

    Sunlight is the best disinfectant and, now that these issues are out in the open, a process of discovery and discernment can proceed. I can’t predict the outcome nor judge the people involved, but you’ve certainly got my attention.

    Let’s see what we learn, and the town will ultimately be in a better place – provided that the process is thorough, and in good faith.

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    • Thank you for your comment. We interviewed Herman on January 20 and included her comments in the original article. We posted a link to her press release on January 21.

      The statement from the APEA was not shared with The Current, but thank you for sharing the link to it with our readers.

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