The School Superintendent Search Committee has selected the three finalists for Harvard’s new superintendent, School Committee chair SusanMary Redinger announced this week. But that number might quickly shrink to two, as one of the applicants has recently received an offer from another district.
From a pool of 31 applicants, the search committee narrowed the selection to one man and two women: Scott R. Carpenter, currently superintendent/principal of Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School; Dr. Jessica L. Huizenga, now the interim superintendent of the Freetown and Lakeville Public Schools; and Dr. Judith J. Paolucci, superintendent of schools in Yarmouth, Maine. Paolucci notified the School Committee shortly before Monday’s meeting that she had received an offer from the Leicester, Mass., school district, subject to contract negotiations.
Redinger, who co-chaired the search committee with Harvard’s interim superintendent, Joe Connelly, thanked all the members of the search committee, praising their hard work and collaborative spirit, saying this was a case in which “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” (See letter to the editor, page 2.)
The next step in the process is to check the references of all three candidates, a job being undertaken by School Committee members Bob Sullebarger and Kirsten Wright. During the first week of January, members of the Harvard School Committee expect to visit the candidates’ current schools. Finally, the candidates will come to Harvard for school visits and public meetings in the second week of January. The School Committee plans to announce the final choice at its Jan. 14 meeting.
“We have not ranked these three candidates in any way,” Redinger told the Press. “Each would do an excellent job as superintendent.”
Scott Carpenter
Carpenter, who filed his application last among the three finalists, has been an administrator in the Lincoln-Sudbury High School for 13 years, according to his resume. He began as an assistant to the principal in 2000, became a housemaster in 2002, and was named superintendent/principal in 2009. Before going to Lincoln-Sudbury, he was a science teacher at Lexington High School from 1993 to 2000.
Carpenter is working toward his doctorate through the Curriculum, Teaching, Learning, and Leadership Doctoral Program at Northeastern University. He expects to complete his course work in July 2013. Other educational qualifications listed on his resume include three master’s degrees (two in education and one in biology) from Harvard, Boston, and Lehigh universities.
Among his other teaching experiences, Carpenter has advised the science/robotics teams at Lexington or Lincoln/Sudbury since 1994. He reports that he has coached teams that won four national championships and seven state or regional championships.
“This is where I have always found joy in my job,” Carpenter writes in his application.
Describing his philosophy as an educator, Carpenter stresses the importance of his experience as a classroom teacher.
“I truly believe that schools revolve around their teachers, not the administrators,” he writes.
During his time as superintendent/principal, Carpenter notes that Lincoln-Sudbury saw a 30 percent increase in enrollment and a $74 million high school construction project. He also oversaw four years of staff reductions during the economic downturn.
Jessica Huizenga
In her letter of application, Jessica Huizenga says she was recruited as assistant superintendent for Freetown and Lakeville while the district was struggling through the process of regionalization and was asked “to take on the challenge of turning a failing system around.” She became interim superintendent last July and has been offered the position on a permanent basis.
Huizenga expresses great pride in the progress that the Freetown and Lakeville schools have made and calls her decision to leave “bittersweet.” But, she writes, “[The] sheer distance from my home and family . . . makes it difficult to make a long term commitment to the district.”
Before going to Freetown and Lakeville, Huizenga served as principal first of the Robert Adams Middle School in Holliston from 2006 to 2008 and then of the Blanchard Middle School in Westford from 2008 to 2010.
Previously, she had been assistant principal at the Randolph Community Middle School in Randolph, Mass., from 2004 to 2006. In the beginning of her career, she taught history in Rockwall, Texas, and in Plymouth, Mass.
Huizenga holds a doctorate in education and a master of arts in education administration, both from the University of Massachusetts Lowell. According to her resume, she won the Coburn Award for Outstanding Dissertation in 2011-12 and was named graduate student speaker for the UMass Lowell commencement earlier this year. She was also named a Principal Scholar in 2008 by the Harvard Institute for School Leadership.
During her time at Freetown and Lakeville, Huizenga says, “We have lowered elementary and middle school class sizes, lowered special education numbers, and our achievement test scores are on the rise.” In addition, one of the district’s schools has been singled out by Governor Deval Patrick as a school of distinction for its progress inclosing the achievement gap.
After a career with many moves, Huizenga writes that she is looking for a long-term position: “I want to spend the next 10-15 years of my career where my ability to create a vision, build consensus around that vision and execute a plan will be embraced by all under the goal of continuous improvement. I am looking to be part of a community that understands that children and their schools are their most valuable resource and willing to do whatever it takes to ensure excellence. I know Harvard is that type of community.”
Judith Paolucci
The third candidate, Judith Paolucci, has had the most varied career of the three finalists. Before entering teaching, she was an engineer with the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management. She then became a highschool chemistry and science teacher in two Rhode Island school districts and later a science curriculum coordinator in Coventry, RI. She served as executive director of the Rhode Island Teaching and Learning Center in 2002-03.
From 2003 to 2009, Paolucci was assistant superintendent in Narragansett, RI. For much of that same period, she also taught graduate courses in education at Rhode Island College and the University of Rhode Island, as an adjunct professor.
Paolucci describes Yarmouth, where she has been superintendent since 2009, as “one of the highest performing school districts in Maine,” with about 1400 students from kindergarten through high school.
Paolucci credits “sounds fiscal management” for Yarmouth’s ability to weather the recent economic downturn without any teacher layoffs. She also says she “has made the budget process more transparent and fiscally sound.”
Whether Paolucci remains a candidate for the Harvard position depends on the outcome of her negotiations with the Leicester, Mass., school district. Redinger said she did not expect any further information on the question before the end of this week.
