There are two school superintendent searches involving Lincoln going on right now, but one is going more smoothly than the other.
The Lincoln School Committee held a Zoom meeting for the community on January 19 for the first of four finalist candidates, and there will be three more next week (see below). Meanwhile, things got a little testy at a January 10 meeting of the Lincoln-Sudbury School Committee (LSSC), which is seeking a successor to Superintendent/Principal Bella Wong.
The LSSC meeting was covered in the Sudbury Weekly, a e-newsletter operated by Sudbury resident Kevin LaHaise, in a January 13 post titled “Big Decisions, Big Feelings.” LaHaise started the newsletter last spring after the Sudbury Town Crier suspended print publication. He writes articles recapping town government meetings based on the recorded videos, and the Sudbury League of Women Voters contributes election news.
At issue was whether the Superintendent Search Subcommittee should retain its power to appoint members of the Screening Committee. “We shouldn’t be hand-picking” those members… it doesn’t seem appropriate,” LSSC member Candace Miller said. “I would like more of an open process.” Member Cara Endyke-Doran agreed. “If you want community buy-in, you have to let the community buy in,” she said.
But other members argued that time was growing short and anything that might slow down the search process could cost L-S good candidates. At one point, Committee Chair Heather Cowap had to admonish Miller and Harold Engstrom not to “sling mud” after they charged each other with being “unprofessional.” The LSSC ultimately voted 4-2 in favor of keeping the process as is.
The 11-person screening committee roster was approved two days later at a Superintendent Search Subcommittee meeting, but not until after Miller upbraided committee chair Matthews at that meeting for not allowing public comment until after the discussion and vote. “What kind of discussion could we have right now?” she said.
“This process is atypical,” Miller added, referring to the recent search process for a new town manager. Matthews and Engstrom voted in favor of the screening committee roster while Miller noted no.
The screening committee consists of Matthews, Engstrom, and Miller from the LSSC, Brendan Wimberley and Susan Shields from the faculty, Martha Wahl and Damon Kelton from the administration, Lincoln School Committee liaison Tara Mitchell, Sudbury School Committee liaison Silvia Nerssessian, and community representatives Carole Kasper (Lincoln) and Maura Carty (Sudbury).
Carty has pulled candidacy papers for one of the two openings on the LSSC in the March 27 Sudbury town election. Ravi Simon of Sudbury has also pulled papers, though no one from Lincoln has done so yet (the deadline is February 1). The open seats are currently occupied by Miller of Sudbury and Engstrom of Lincoln.
Lincoln superintendent search
Three public forums for Lincoln Public Schools superintendent finalists will be held next week at 6 p.m. in the Lincoln School auditorium:
- Monday, Jan. 23 – Michael Caira, currently assistant superintendent of curriculum, instruction, and assessment for the Ashland Public Schools (Zoom link)
- Tuesday, Jan. 24 – Annette Doyle, currently principal at the Peter Noyes Elementary School in Sudbury (Zoom link)
- Thursday, Jan. 26 – Jessica Rose, currently assistant superintendent for the Lincoln Public Schools (Zoom link)
Frank (Parry) Graham, currently assistant superintendent of Wayland Public Schools, was the focus of the January 19 forum. The forums are not interviews but rather an exchange of questions and ideas. To view the finalists’ resumes and learn more about the superintendent search process, click here.
Each of the four finalists will spend a day visiting Lincoln schools and meeting with staff, students, and parents/community members. This “day in the district” is partially to help the finalists learn more about the district and our communities to inform their decision making but is also an opportunity to learn more about each finalist.
Becky McFall announced in October that she will retire at the end of June after 11 years as Lincoln’s school superintendent.
The School Committee will conduct final public interviews with each finalist on January 30 and 31, and February 1 and 2 at 6 p.m. in the school district offices’ multipurpose room. The interviews also will be streamed live via Zoom. While the interviews are public, only School Committee members will be allowed to engage with each finalist.
Thank you for sharing this view of the LS screening committee selection process.
Firstly, the most important thing we are working toward is finding the best possible person to lead Lincoln Sudbury Regional High School as superintendent. That should be obvious, but it can’t hurt to put this out front.
Secondly, the characterization of the makeup of and selection process for the screening committee as “unusual” is not accurate: in open and televised meeting, we asked the head of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, who is also the consultant unanimously chosen by the LSRHS school committee to advise and execute our process, if there was a standard make up and selection process for a screening committee. The answer was no – each committee chooses to do it differently.
LSRHS is under pressure to move quickly to find candidates and screen them. LPS began their process months prior to LSRHS – the decision to definitively begin our process started on 11OCT2022. We decided, in open meeting to have our screening committee be 11 people: one delegate from SPS, one from LPS, 2 faculty members chosen by the faculty, the LSRHS special education and METCO administrators, the three subcommittee members, and two committed members with experience from the community. This was transparently discussed. Ms. MIller and Ms. Endyke-Doren wanted to select alternates in executive session, away from public view, as is their right to suggest. This was voted down by the overall committee.
Secondly, it should be noted that the screening committee is comprised of examples of the best in Lincoln and Sudbury: people who have served their school systems and are fully invested in improving them for the sake of their neighbors, families, and all the students and staff who make up the LS community.
I am proud of the transparency and professionalism that MASC, our subcommittee chairperson Kevin Matthews, and the LSRHS school committee in general have exhibited in this process to date. We should all support LSRHS and its elected school committee as we work to land the school’s next leader.
Thank you!
Lincoln is geographically at a disadvantage to many things Lincoln-Sudbury, particularly if residents have no children in the LS District. As a town with a significant investment in our children’s high school education, in partnership with Sudbury, we need to pay close attention to this process and very important decision.
Active, frequent and broad outreach and an inclusive, transparent process that provides many ways to obtain information, away from rolling the tape and reading agendas and minutes, are all critical in today’s world. The Lincoln School Committee has done an exemplary job in ensuring the town is invited and kept informed with every step, thanks to Susan Taylor’s updates, information on Lincoln Talk and the Squirrel, and the Supt. Search web page.
These decisions for LPS and LS and, leading up to them, clean and clear deliberative processes are a School Committee’s greatest responsibilities.