Stephen Nembirkow, director of finance and business operations for Hawlemont and Mohawk Trail regional school districts, could be leaving the district after less than a year on the job, perhaps to Greenfield.
Nembirkow, who is in the first year of a five-year contract with the regional district, was named a finalist for both Greenfield and Northampton public school districts’ business manager positions. Both cities’ school committees voted to enter negotiations with Nembirkow this week.
Nembirkow said he is yet to officially announce he is leaving the regional school district, but the regional school committee and Mohawk Superintendent Michael Buoniconti were told about Nembirkow’s candidacy for the two positions, and Buoniconti and Nembirkow have discussed the potential departure.
According to Nembirkow, his decision comes because he prefers to work in a municipal school system — which Greenfield and Northampton both have — rather than a regional school system like he is in now.
Nembirkow said a regional school system operates separate from the cities and towns it represents, while a municipal school system offers greater support and more checks and balances because of its direct relationship with city administrators.
Nembirkow also noted greater comfort within municipal school districts, where he spent about 16 of his 18 professional years working in various financial and business management positions. This includes 13 combined years spent within Chicopee Public Schools as both director of finance and human resources and finance manager.
Nembirkow was also district business manager for Bristol, Conn., schools for less than a year before becoming director of finance and business operations for the Hawlemont and Mohawk Trail regional school districts in August 2017.
Nembirkow is the son of former Greenfield Schools Superintendent Bassan “Buzz” Nembirkow.
He has a bachelor’s degree in finance, and state certifications for school business manager, superintendent, middle and high school principal and special education director positions. He is also Massachusetts Bar Association-certified to practice law.
Buoniconti said there are no immediate plans to replace Nembirkow.
Options are being reviewed, Buoniconti said, and he is “advocating we try something different.”
Alternatives include partnering with another school district to share a business manager or modifying the position so the superintendent can take on some of the position’s responsibilities, he said.
“Options are available because of my continuity and understanding of budget,” Buoniconti said. “We don’t necessarily have to have a business manager.”
The Greenfield School Committee decided to enter negotiations with Nembirkow after the committee interviewed him for more than an hour Monday. Previously, Nembirkow had an initial interview and screening with Greenfield Schools Superintendent Jordana Harper and other school administrators.
Nembirkow is the first and only applicant for the vacant business manager position to reach the second interview since the position was posted during the summer of last year. Harper said Nembirkow was one of about a half dozen who had gone through the initial interview and screening process.
The position was previously occupied by Howard Barber, who served with the city for about two years before resigning, according to Harper.
Since Barber’s resignation, The Management Solution, a school consultation group from Auburn, has been handling the work, School Committee Chairwoman Adrienne Nunez said, costing the city about $9,000 a month. Nunez said while the city has a good relationship with The Management Solution, having a full-time business manager provides consistency and can improve relationships in the department and district.
“They’re a contractor here part-time in the district and it’s pretty different than having someone here heading the department full-time,” Nunez said.
Greenfield budgeted $116,699 for the school business administrator last year when Barber was still with the district. This year, when Greenfield contracted with The Management Solution, the budgeted amount was $120,200.
In net year’s proposed budget from Harper, the total for the position is $122,604.
While Greenfield School Committee members approved of Nembirkow’s credentials and experience, they questioned his two recent job changes, first in February 2017, when he left Chicopee to the position in Bristol, then again in August 2017 when he left Bristol for the Hawlemont and Mohawk Trail regional school districts.
According to Nembirkow, he left Chicopee to go to Bristol, since his wife worked in Chicopee with him and “every day was consumed with talking about Chicopee schools.”
Regarding his brief stint at Bristol, where he spent six months as district business administrator, he said the district was rife with instability.
Committee members also voiced concern over “poaching” personnel away from a nearby school district, which could hurt their efforts.
“In order to get someone for our district, we destabilize another district,” School Committee member Susan Hollins said.
Bouniconti said while it is “thoughtful” of the committee to consider his school district, he is confident that Hawlemont and Mohawk regional school districts will be able to overcome Nembirkow’s departure, if and when it occurs.
You can reach Dan Desrochers at: ddesrochers@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 257.