Search Committee members said they are in the midst of private interviews with 10 candidates for the job of superintendent of schools in a process that will bring on a new school leader for the first time in more than 30 years.
Some 15 members have devoted hours and hours of work to the process, said School Committee Chair Tom Abruzzese this week. He said he is impressed with the quality of the candidates – who cannot yet be named publicly – and the work of the Search Committee.
“We’re more than positive (about the candidates),” said Abruzzese. “I thought and hoped it would be a great group of candidates from the beginning. As we’ve gone on, the candidates are even better than I had hoped they would be…I’m also extremely impressed with how serious everyone on the Search Committee has taken this. All 15 members have been committed, and the numbers of hours we put into the process before the interviews was tremendous. Now, with the interviews, you’re talking about 15 members interviewing 10 people for two hours each. The commitment to the process has been fantastic.”
School Committeeman Frank Parker, who is also on the Search Committee, said the interviews have been going well, and he expected to have the final recommendations to the full School Committee by the end of October – perhaps.
The Search Committee is made up of School Committee members, community leaders, Police Chief Steve Mazzie and school employees/teachers – among others.
Abruzzese said the process right now is on time, and they are whittling down the larger pool to around three or four. Those will be the finalists, and they will be made public to the School Committee. That will be followed by public interviews of each of the candidates.
“We’re still interviewing the 10 finalists and when we have interviewed everybody, the plan is to move it down to three or four – maybe five,” said Abruzzese. “We’re hoping for three or four. The Search Committee will file a report with the entire School Committee. We believe that report will be presented at the meeting on Nov. 4, or perhaps the next meeting after that.”
He said they would notify any finalists before they are made public, and a finalist could turn down the offer. Once the list is cemented with confirmed finalists, it will be made public.
“So far everything is going well,” he said. “We’re on the timeline and it’s going to be wrapping up soon.”