Steven Bliss Arrested On Sex Charges

By Fred Hanson

The Patriot Ledger

The former Superintendent of Southbridge Schools has been arrested for soliciting sex from an undercover police officer in Worcester, police said.

Steven Bliss, 46, of 550 Liberty Street in Braintree was charged with offering to engage in sex for a fee and human trafficking following his arrest on Monday.

He was arraigned on the charges Tuesday in Worcester District Court, where he was released on his promise to return on Oct. 17 for a pre-trial conference, a spokesman for Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early said. 

Troubling Questions About Bliss Departure

Ken O’Brien

Like so many things in Southbridge, recent events in the school system have brought out the usual trolls.

 Rancid comments from those who have, and will apparently never stop having, a stake in sanitizing past failures fill the prior article announcing the Superintendent’s resignation.

But there are confusing issues raised by the recent departure of Superintendent of Schools Steven Bliss. In fact, a careful consideration of the available information raises more questions than it provides answers.

Let us start with the premise that Mr. Bliss had decided that he wished to leave his position for whatever reason.

Southbridge Superintendent Resigns

Southbridge School Superintendent Steven Bliss resigned his position last night.

Mr. Bliss cited health reaons as well as concerns that the post was not the right fit for him.

Reporting on the departure of Superintendent Bliss, The Worcester Telegram noted:

Mr. Bliss, in an email to the Telegram & Gazette, said that in addition to the health matter, he also found that the job was not the right fit for him.

Mr. Bliss said he had not completed contract negotiations with the School Committee as of a couple weeks ago.

After a couple of medical issues spanning the past two weeks and, “much soul searching, I decided that the work of the Superintendent is simply not a good fit for me in that the work for the most part had little to do with teaching and learning and causes one to be further removed from working with students and teachers in a meaningful way,” he said.

“I have decided to pursue other professional opportunities in the field of education, be it in the form of educational consulting work or in a private school setting,” Mr. Bliss said.

Breaking News: Steven Bliss Appointed Interim Superintendent

Ken O'Brien

At its meeting Wednesday night, by a vote of 6 to 1, the Southbridge School Committee appointed Steven Bliss as interim Superintendent for the Southbridge School District. The sole dissenting vote was cast by committee member Erin Quinney.

 Bliss recently announced his departure from the position of Superintendent of the Dover-Sherborn school district.

Mr. Bliss had twice before been a school principal (in Southbridge and Sturbridge), had served four years as an assistant superintendent and two years as a superintendent. In addition, from all I have been able to find, he received glowing comments from all of those concerned with his previous positions.

Why’d They Diss Bliss?

Ken O’Brien

Allow me to return for a moment to the issue of the recent action by the majority of the School Committee to extend the contract of Sheryl Stanton for another year.

At the time of the vote the Committee had an application in hand from Steven Bliss who had recently announced his departure from the position of Superintendent of the Dover-Sherborn school district.

Committee Vice-Chair Kara Donovan referred to any consideration of Mr. Bliss as changing the process for a person. Committee Chair Lauren McLouhglin stated that she believed Bliss had submitted his letter based upon inside information, which she found very concerning. 

The Hypocrites’ Ball

Ken O’Brien

After slow-walking the superintendent search process the hit-and-run Chair of the School Committee and her sycophants decided that the Acting Superintendent’s contract should be extended and the selection of a permanent superintendent should be left to the incoming committee.

In a related matter, immediately following her contract extension, the newest one-year wonder presented a plan to reorganize the middle/high school. The (supposedly) carefully-crafted, extensively vetted plan had no associated job descriptions and no budgetary impact associated with it.