The School Committee debates the next step in the superintendent search at a Jan. 18 meeting. From left: Interim Superintendent Joe Connelly, Bob Sullebarger, Chairwoman SusanMary Redinger, Kirsten Wright, Patty Wenger, and Keith Cheveralls. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
Following the unexpected withdrawal of one of its finalists, the School Committee, in a special afternoon meeting last Friday, Jan. 18, decided not to appoint its sole remaining candidate, but to reopen its long search for a new superintendent.
In a unanimous vote, the committee instructed its three-member subcommittee to confine its search to the original pool of applicants and gave it until at least Jan. 28, the next regularly scheduled meeting, to reconsider as many of the 31 candidates as might still be available to fill the position.
As late as a week ago, the School Committee appeared on track to choose between two candidates for the superintendent’s position at its regular Monday meeting on Jan. 14. However, when one of the finalists, Dr. Jessica Huizenga, withdrew for personal reasons, further discussion was tabled. Another finalist, Dr. Judith Paolucci, had withdrawn earlier to accept a job in another district. Of the three candidates recommended by the 13-member superintendent search committee, only Scott Carpenter of Lincoln-Sudbury remained.
When the School Committee gathered for its special session last Friday, it had four options, as Chairwoman SusanMary Redinger laid out the choices. Members could vote to select Carpenter, she said. They could continue with the present search by re-examining the resumes of the original 31 applicants. They could start the search from scratch again, knowing that they had missed the months of the academic year when the widest selection of candidates was available. Or they could consider another year with an interim superintendent, whether it be Dr. Joe Connelly, who currently holds the position, or a new person.
“I want a great superintendent for our schools”
Redinger had one key criterion: “I want to end up with a great superintendent for our schools,” she said
Committee member Bob Sullebarger asked whether the 13-member search committee was willing to continue with a new search. But Connelly said that the search committee had been officially disbanded once it recommended the three finalists.
“The responsibility is now with the School Committee,” Connelly said. He later added that the School Committee was not bound by the decision of the search committee and had “the option to consider any and all other possibilities.”
Both committee members Kirsten Wright and Sullebarger said they were unwilling to take a vote with only one candidate as a possibility, and other members of the committee agreed to drop that option. All agreed, however, that Carpenter would still be considered as a candidate among others.
Redinger told the committee that several of the original applicants were already finalists for positions in other districts. “We are fighting over the same pool,” she noted.
After further discussion, Redinger suggested that the group’s search subcommittee (Redinger herself, Connelly, and committee member Keith Cheveralls) review the original applications to see which ones might be promising. They would then forward those names to the whole School Committee for further evaluation. She noted that this discussion would be in executive session because names of candidates are confidential until they are designated finalists.
Wright asked if the committee might consider seeking help from a professional search firm, given the amount of work members had already done on the project. And Sullebarger noted that a professional might draw in candidates who had not responded to the original search. But Connelly countered that the work a search firm could contribute—such as advertising and preparing a brochure about the district—had already been done.
In the end, the committee voted unanimously to have the subcommittee take up the original batch of applications and to report back at the next regularly scheduled meeting, which is Monday, Jan. 28.
Search committee members still concerned
Some members of the original superintendent search committee expressed regret at not being included in the renewed search. Laura Vilain, who represented the Finance Committee on the panel, rejected the idea that most committee members were “burnt out.” She said she had spoken with several other search committee members about whether they were willing to get back to work.
“Their answer was a resounding ‘Yes!'” Vilain said. “It’s so important to the community, and we represented so many groups—the parents, teachers, principals…We worked well together and we have lessons learned.”
Sarah Connelly, a member of the search committee and also of the Hildreth Elementary School Council, said, “I would have liked the School Committee to reconvene the original search committee. I’d like the people who started this and put in so much work to see it through. . . . I’d like to understand why we lost a candidate in the bottom of the ninth. . . . I would appreciate having some more input from the [search] committee members, because I think we are all responsible for this outcome.”
Sharon Cronin, also a search committee member and a parent, said she, too, would be happy to help if the School Committee requested it. But she said that responsibility ultimately rested in the hands of School Committee members. “I hope they will act prudently,” she said. “I think they got a sense of what we were seeking in a superintendent.”
