Weekly Update #2 on Interim Superintendent Search

/in , /by

Dear Weston School Community, 

In my update on March 15, 2023, where I committed to keeping our school community informed about our progress, I described the School Committee’s interim superintendent search process. Here is the next weekly update announcing one significant change: the next meeting of the Weston School Committee, where finalist candidates will be announced, has been moved to early April from March 27, 2023, due to scheduling and timing constraints. All other aspects of the search process remain the same.  

Up until that first update on March 15, the School Committee had:

    • placed a job posting for the interim superintendent position, which generated a robust set of applications from both internal and external administrators.
    • sought community input about the interim superintendent’s desired qualifications and attributes through forums with parents, teachers, students, district administration, and the general public and, separately, through an online survey, which generated 688 responses.
    • created an interim superintendent screening subcommittee to perform initial evaluations of the submitted applications and interview preliminary candidates.
    • identified during the School Committee’s March 13 meeting the themes from the community’s input that would inform the screening subcommittee’s work.
    • voted unanimously to conduct the evaluations and keep the names of applicants in private until a set of finalists is announced, after which the evaluation process will take place publicly.
    • voted unanimously to launch the search for a permanent superintendent, supported by a search consultant and a broad array of parents, teachers, and administrators, in fall 2023.

Since that last update, the screening subcommittee has: 

    • assessed the applications using the criteria informed by community input.
    • identified preliminary candidates with whom to proceed.
    • conducted first round interviews with those candidates.
    • received email feedback from the community about potential candidates and the evaluation process.

Over the next week, the screening subcommittee will: 

    • schedule second round interviews with preliminary candidates.
    • briefly pause our interim superintendent search to dedicate our time to preparing for mediation and negotiating with our teachers union.   
    • resume our work early next week, with second round, in-person interviews.  

One key change is that our overall schedule will elongate by at least one week due to scheduling conflicts this week. We now expect to have finalists announced at or by our next School Committee meeting now scheduled for early April from March 27, 2023. We want to assure the community that we’re exercising full due diligence by not rushing through the evaluation activity or failing to devote sufficient time to other vital priorities. This week members will devote substantial time to prepare for and then negotiate with our teachers – currently we have two four-hour negotiation sessions split between this Wednesday and Thursday.   

Accordingly, we expect the Superintendent Search schedule to proceed as follows: 

    • Early April: Screening subcommittee announces interim finalists during School Committee meeting.
    • Mid to late April: Finalists visit Weston Public Schools for meetings with the school community including public interviews with the School Committee. 
    • Early May: School Committee deliberates over the finalists and votes on whom to extend an offer.
    • July 1: Interim superintendent begins tenure.
    • Summer: School Committee engages a search consultant for the permanent superintendent search. 
    • Fall: Permanent Screening Subcommittee forms, including broad representation across the school community. 
    • Fall/Winter: Permanent Screening Subcommittee seeks out applicants, refines candidate pool, performs initial screening interviews, and makes finalist recommendations to the School Committee. 
    • Winter/Spring 2024: Finalist candidates meet the Weston school community, specific input is received, and the Weston School Committee appoints the next permanent superintendent. 

Please feel free to reach out to the School Committee with your questions and feedback. We appreciate the fundamental importance of this decision to the future of our district and welcome all input from the school community. I’ll share my next, and briefer, update early next week. 

 

Ken Newberg, Chair

Weston School Committee