Harvard’s search for a permanent school superintendent is starting over from scratch.
School Committee Chairwoman SusanMary Redinger announced the decision Monday night. The last remaining candidate, Scott Carpenter of Lincoln-Sudbury, had withdrawn his candidacy by email the day before, she told the committee at the Jan. 28 meeting.
Carpenter’s email read in part: “Unfortunately, after reflection over the past days, your search process and timeline have become less than desirable, and I would now not leave my present position for Harvard. I will be withdrawing from your search to focus my energy elsewhere.”
Two weeks earlier, on Jan. 14, finalist Dr. Jessica Huizinga of Freetown-Lakeville withdrew her application for “personal reasons.” The third of the original finalists selected by the search committee, Dr. Judith Paolucci of Yarmouth, Maine, withdrew in December to take another position.
‘This search is now closed’
At a special meeting on Friday, Jan. 18, the School Committee had asked a subcommittee consisting of Redinger, School Committee member Keith Cheveralls, and interim Superintendent Joe Connelly to review the original applicant pool for other suitable candidates. However, Redinger said that she had decided in consultation with Cheveralls to recommend continuing with an interim superintendent next year.
The original 13-member search committee had done their work well in choosing the three finalists named in December, Redinger said, and it would have been inappropriate to bring forward a candidate the committee had previously rejected. She said that she expects to debrief the original search committee and ask their advice. At that point, she said, the School Committee could choose to “refine the process” for a new search or perhaps use a professional search firm.
“This search is now closed,” Redinger said.
Redinger noted that the School Committee would need to apply for a critical-needs waiver from the state if members wish to rehire Connelly for another year as an interim. Moreover, Connelly indicated at the Jan. 18 meeting that he was already considering another position for the 2013-2014 school year, having assumed that Harvard would have a new, full-time superintendent starting in July.
In-house committee vs. search consultant
The committee’s discussion turned to how and when to proceed with a new superintendent search. Redinger said that spring was not the optimal time to find a wide range of candidates. But committee member Kirsten Wright suggested that the committee might want to keep open the option of starting a new search immediately. She also said they should look into the benefits of a professional search firm.
Cheveralls said he had looked at the original pool of applicants again. “It was numerically deep,” he said, “but it was not really that deep from an experience point of view. . . . I would want to cast a wider net next time.”
Cheveralls acknowledged that professional search firms might have “a wider net and a better Rolodex” but still expressed reservations about using one. “We could have been in the same spot after spending $25,000,” he said.
Wright volunteered to look into the possible benefits of using a search firm, saying that a quick internet check had shown that about three-fourths of the active superintendent searches she found were using those firms.
Decision draws public comment
Redinger had moved the update on the superintendent search to the top of the meeting’s agenda, she said, so that people who wished to talk about it in the period for public comment would have the most recent information.
In the public comment period, former School Committee member Stu Sklar said he applauded the committee for starting a new search rather than “settling for the fourth, fifth, or sixth candidate.” He strongly suggested that in the next search they make public the criteria by which they are judging candidates, while keeping the names confidential until finalists are chosen. Sklar also supported beginning the new search immediately and using a professional search firm.
In a second public comment section at the close of the meeting, Selectman Tim Clark also urged the committee to carry the search forward during the spring. He said the district has been “rudderless” without a permanent superintendent, a situation that was reflected in the recent appraisal of the Bromfield School by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). Clark said that a theme in the NEASC report is “inconsistency” in curriculum and practices at Bromfield. He said he encouraged the School Committee to “accelerate their search and expand their definition of what a superintendent should be.”
