The major task facing Harvard’s School Committee next school year will be hiring a new, full-time superintendent for the district. Accordingly, on June 11, interim Superintendent Joe Connelly handed the committee a tentative schedule for the hiring process.
“The earlier you start, the better,” Connelly advised.
The proposed schedule suggests advertising and posting the superintendent’s position in mid-September, with the expectation that applications will come in during September and October. A search committee, formed in mid-October, would screen the applications and conduct initial interviews during November.
By early December, the search committee should have identified several semifinalists for interviews with the School Committee. In turn, the School Committee would decide on one to three finalists before winter vacation.
If everything goes according to this tentative schedule, the School Committee could expect to vote on the final choice for Harvard’s next superintendent in late January 2013. Once his or her contract negotiations were completed, this schedule would allow a full five months for an orderly transition.
Connelly, School Committee chairman SusanMary Redinger, and committee member Patricia Wenger met last week with Glenn Koocher, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, to discuss the search process. With Koocher’s advice, they concluded that it was not feasible to advertise simultaneously for both a full-time and part-time position, so they elected to proceed with the full-time position.
Koocher advised that the superintendent search committee be broad-based, but not much larger than 12 members, according to Connelly. As a starting point, Connelly suggested a committee composed of three teachers, three school administrators, three parents, two community representatives, and one or two School Committee members.
One of the first decisions the School Committee must make is whether to conduct the entire search itself or use a search firm. The Massachusetts Association of School Committees will conduct searches for a fee, as will the New England School Development Council.
Redinger reported that MASC would charge a fee of $8,500 for the search, with an additional $3,500 to $4,000 for advertising, travel, administration, and other expenses.
School Committee member Keith Cheveralls urged the committee to tackle the search on its own.
“I believe we, as a committee, could do this on our own, and I believe we would get a better product,” he said.
Cheveralls volunteered to work on a subcommittee with Connelly and another member to be named later to come back with suggestions on how to proceed.
