Permanent Superintendent Search: Update #2

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Dear Weston School Community,

As promised in our August 30, 2023, Permanent Superintendent Search: Update #1, we are dedicated to providing the community with periodic updates throughout our search for a permanent superintendent to keep the wider community well-informed during this important process.

Since our last communication:

  • We established a website as a repository for our communications and related information such as important milestones and dates.
  • We continue to be in contact with leaders from the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, who are providing us with technical assistance and consulting with us on this process.
  • We began advertising for submissions to the permanent superintendent position in various national and regional professional resources. These include:
  • We accepted letters of interest to serve on the screening subcommittees from the last week in August until this past Saturday, September 16, 2023.
  • On September 18, 2023, the composition of the Application Screening Subcommittee was announced. The membership includes an impressive group of dedicated citizens, old and new, employees and volunteers, well-recognized leaders and quiet helpers. For example, on the one end of the spectrum, we are proud to have Don Pierson who has been associated with the Weston Public Schools for longer than many of us were alive, having retired from being the Principal of the Brook School (which are now apartments). On the other side of the spectrum, we have parents of children who are preparing to enter WPS in the upcoming years, including the WCCA’s current president. There are too many exceptional individuals included in this list to give them just recognition. In alphabetical order by first name, they are:
    • Aloke Chakravarty
    • Arielle Nurczynski
    • Charlotte Weeple
    • Cheri Amour Mahan
    • Cheryl Thompson
    • Cristian de Bouter
    • Don Pierson
    • Emma Kwon
    • Jaclyn McDonald
    • Jamey Friel
    • Kathleen Baker
    • Katie Tucker
    • Kenneth Newberg
    • Kimo Carter
    • Laura Wilson
    • Maija Cirulis-Gooch
    • Noelle Hartshorn
    • Patrick Kelly
    • Sally Andrea
    • Sari Fromson Laberis
    • Taylor McIntire
    • Tiao Xie
    • Tom Palmer

The quality of the applicants for this committee impressed us so much that we worked hard to find room for all who expressed interest and were available for our pre-planned meeting dates. This subcommittee will review each submitted superintendent application and refer the best qualified to go on as semi-finalists to be interviewed.

  • Also on September 18, 2023, we announced the composition of the Preliminary Interview Subcommittee. The composition strives to represent our diverse community, as well as one can, by including volunteers whose identities span the spectrum of races, interests, experiences, and professional training found in our Weston School Community. In alphabetical order by first name, they are:
    • Annunziata Varela
    • Beth Dietz
    • Fang Wang
    • Keitrice Johnson
    • Kenneth Newberg
    • Maija Circulis Gooch
    • Patty Desmarias
    • Paul Peri
    • Theresa Dryden

Unlike our Application Screening Subcommittee, we were unable to invite everyone who applied onto the interview committee for the practical reason of striving to maintain balance and providing each member with sufficient time to meaningfully participate in the interview process. Our deep appreciation goes out to those who raised their hands to volunteer for all roles.

Our next steps will be to distribute the superintendent applications to the Application Screening Subcommittee once the collection window closes on October 6, 2023, forward semi-finalists to the Preliminary Interview Subcommittee which is slated to work during the week of October 23, in time to publicly announce the finalists at our October 30, 2023 meeting. The wider public will be invited to participate in the process during the month of November, with the School Committee tentatively planning to deliberate over our final decision on December 6, 2023.

We have designed the next phase of this process to be confidential in order to attract the broadest group of applicants.   Thus, the next public update on our superintendent search may not be until finalists are brought forward at the end of October.

Until next time,

 

Ken Newberg and Maija Cirulis-Gooch

Chair and Vice Chair

Weston School Committee