Selecting a new Superintendent still on hold

In making a choice for a process for hiring a new Superintendent, the board seems all over the place.

It seemed that chair Matt Sheehan and member Ron Mercier are more favorable towards having the board do it themselves, and not using the professional services available.

Dr McNamara was most firm in his point that he felt that at least he was not compentent on his own to hire a CEO for such a venture as this, and prefers bringing in professional support.

Mike Miles, tended to be listening to all arguments, but was clear on the fact that he wanted to hire from within (saying that there were 5 candidates available), and if we went with a service he would prefer the MEC. As a former union leader, his support of hiring from within is understood here.

In a quest for compromise, Bonnie Elie’s approach seemed to win out. Using the Association of School Committee’s free services, while doing the work in house seems to be the direction they are going.

She and school counsel Kevin Murphy recommended the formation of a subcommittee to work out the details of the process, but both Mercier and Sheehan were against this. Sheehan said that he wanted all meetings to be of the entire committee, public and televised.

For now, the subject is tabled while Sheehan works to get the final quotes and further information from MASC.

On their own, I agree that this committee may not have the skills necessary to do this. Mike Miles was right in saying that the process used last time did not work out. McNamara, with the most experience in education on this board, seems frustrated at having his proposals so quickly dismissed. “We need to understand that this is not something to take lightly, or with a narrow search,” he said.

The move towards having the committee itself do the work of selecting the Superintendent could be good or bad. Politically, they will all be tied to the choice they make without being able to point at a selection committee if things go wrong. Ultimately, the decision allows us to hold them accountable, but I agree with Sheehan that all meetings need to be held publicly and televised, and I recommend separate from the regular school committee meetings in a more informal discussion format so that everyone gets out what they have to say (face it, many of these members have difficulty expressing their ideas clearly, and easily slip into adversity).