School Committee Will Use Search Firm for Superintendent

The Everett School Committee voted 9-0 on Monday night to procure the services of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MASC) to conduct a full superintendent search for them this year.

The Committee held a meeting last Monday, March 25, to discuss the idea of what to do about the superintendent search, which has been slow to get going. MASC gave a presentation on March 25 and answered questions, including that they could give technical assistance, partially run the process or fully run the process.

Committeeman Frank Parker said on Monday his subcommittee recommended the MASC conduct a full search.

“My recommendation is we need them to lead a full superintendent search,” he said.

Assistant Supt. Charlie Obremski was tasked with reaching out to the MASC and the procurement to get a price and prepare a purchase order for the services.

School Committeeman David Ela said it has been suggested that a search isn’t necessary and the Committee isn’t doing what’s best for the City.

He said that couldn’t be further from the case.

“The School Committee will be  giving up nothing, but we want to make the best decision for our students, staff and community,” he said. “No matter what happens in November, we will have the school system in a better place. Whatever happens down the road, we will be sure to do the right thing for this district. I have full confidence in all of the members of this Committee.”

•The Everett Teacher’s Association (ETA) was out in full force on Monday to make their presence known and heard in regard to the ongoing contract negotiations with the union. Teachers have been out of contract for months, and negotiations had reported broken down recently with the School Committee.

On Monday, more than 50 teachers in red shirts appeared at the Committee meeting in order to keep tabs on any updates in their situation. The Committee adjourned to executive session at the end of the meeting to address the contract privately, but did not reconvene to discuss what they had decided.

•Cyara Lambert and Carolina Penaflor appeared before the School Committee on Monday night to talk about how they testified on Beacon Hill last week regarding School Funding reforms. The duo waited nearly all day on Friday to put in their testimony to the legislature.

“The future is in our hands,” said Penaflor, the president of the senior class. “This year was tough. Many of us will be the first to go to college in our families. We need guidance to get there. Many of our parents want to help us with that, but they don’t know how. So, we depend heavily on our guidance counselors and we need to make sure they are funded…Imagine what we can do with a fully funded district…Please don’t complain about the young generation if you don’t want to invest in them because their failures are your failures.”

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