MAIC - superintendent succession plan meeting
* please note these are my notes that I took during the meeting on my phone. I used the shortest way to identify people that I could and no disrespect is meant by how someone is listed.
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Consultant: People know about Medford. Not really what it is, but that is a place to be.
Presence of strong internal candidates will lessen interest of outside candidates.
Massachusetts regulates and punishes and we label. People in other parts of the country don’t always speak well of working up here. Districts have suffered drop in ranking for minor and technical reasons. Always want to be a level one district and in Massachusetts it is quite often not possible.
Districts do one of three or four things
1) internal promotion.
2) search takes place to either rule in or out internal candidates
3) formal search. Cast a wide net. Attract candidates from all over the country.
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People looking for superintendent jobs in Mass look at:
Our website and US superintendent website
Posting in both of those places are free to post.
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Difference between local and national search is minimal. Pool of candidates around the country looking to come to Massachusetts are all known to them. Key is conducting a process that allows you to probe for depth and quality. What is best for Medford and what is best for your students.
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Pools of top candidates are much smaller now. 1975 Cambridge had 120 applicants. Recent searches there have had 2-3 candidates.
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Cugno: how many superintendent spots are available in Massachusetts now?
A: About 20 so far will be occupied by different people in September. Usually 40-60. People who enter schools right after college can retire around 55.
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Average tenure of superintendent is 4 years. A candidate needs to be licensed as a superintendent or eligible to be licensed.
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There are technical assistance services to help interview superintendents.
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Free services include orientation of search committee. Graphic assistance to design brochure. Help come up with questions for search committee. Can accept applications if needed.
Search consultants will also engage in recruiting and should be present at every stage of the search. Help advise on Open Meeting laws and ethics issues.
Website includes sample interviews and model contracts.
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Should vote to begin negotiations with a superintendent candidate. Not vote to hire.
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Superintendent contracts are designed to maximize power of superintendent and minimize power of school committee. Some contracts allow superintendent to control when school Committee meets, how often, etc.
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Search committee can hold private interviews with candidates. School Committee can not interview in private.
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Believes school committee members should be on search committee. They are not allowed to be majority members.
Smaller the better for search committee.
Peabody did entire search process publicly.
This can keep some candidates away as they don’t want their home district to know they are job searching.
It can also have people coming out of the woodwork that have had bad experiences with candidate. Suspension, expulsion or counseling someone out of the profession.
School personnel should NOT outnumber members from the community.
Shouldn’t be doing more than two interviews per night. Too many search committee members can make it harder to schedule interviews and slow the process.
Peabody two rounds of candidates. Second round was 16. Interviewed 5. Successful candidate was internal.
Paid consultancy gets focus groups. Online survey. Attendance at all search meetings. Recruitment of candidates.
After interviews, School Committee can visit sending districts. Invite candidates to our district. Helping to develop contract.
$9500 search process. Up to $1000 in related expenses. May choose to do paid advertising. Most districts are not using paid advertising. They are designing a brochure and distributing it online.
Focus groups happen at various times of day to try and get many cross sections of people including teachers. If a district is not experiencing trouble, in person showings will be low. Will see significant response to online surveys. People tend to not want to go out to meetings.
Retired super taking position can only make difference between pension and what current person in their old position is making plus $15k. Can apply for a waiver so they can make full amount, but they are hard to get. Usually after you have an unsuccessful search.
Cugno: other services charge $15k or more and provide less than this program.
Our fee is lower because you are a member and have been paying for about 70 years. Should talk to other services, but this service is as good as you will find.
Districts often pay to conduct a search to find people who are already looking for them.
Internal superintendent search is without a fee. Interim superintendent searches are without a fee. Easier search. People are already in the district. Just need help putting together an interview.
Districts that have put in internal candidates absent trouble have had public support as long as the process was open to the public.
People in Medford know what is best for Medford. You know better than anyone what the community wants.
Erin: can start with free services and see if we need to expand? How many do it this way?
Two thirds do it free way. About a third of them go with internal.
Paulette: we haven’t done this in a very long time. What is expectation of how broad a search we should do from the community? Even if we have strong internal candidates since it has been so long since we had a new superintendent.
Start in January. Close at beginning of February. Start interviews in February. Could find a candidate by end of March.
Paulette: how do you pick search committee? School Committee, parent from three levels, teacher from three levels. Maybe someone from administration side. Occasionally a slot for a senior citizen. Sometimes a seat for someone particularly knowledgeable in Special ed. Invite candidates to inform school committee that they are interested in those positions. School committee decides who gets on committee. Don’t want people with ax to grind. Some people you just don’t want near a process.
Generally recommend chair of school committee chairs the search committee. That would be the mayor here. And the chair could also pick all the search committee members.
Belson would prefer many groups be allowed to have feedback and a say. Then control it through the funnel.
Belson: pool isn’t deep. Might need to consider packaging. A super and an assistant who will work together and give you what you need.
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Cugno: as far as money. Some people think if you don’t have experience you can start at a lower salary.
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A: Some are so eager they will work for less. Some want fairness. Others know if you don’t get it upfront you will never get it.
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We have comparative salary information we can share with you.
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Mea: back to search committee. Sub groups. You mentioned Special Education seat.
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A: occasionally head of Special Ed or such. Could also have a spot for ELL if that is a growing population. Could also have people from Friends groups...ie friends of band or music or athletics.
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Zac: how often do you have search committee reflect the racial make up of students?
A: you will see some. It won’t always be a perfect match to community. Often takes 30 years for faculty to match what community make up was 30 years ago. Population constantly shifts. A search committee may not do that.
Paul: scheduling issue. Has a committee done a schedule ahead so they know what the dates are that they are meeting and if they can’t commit they can’t be on the committee.
A: yes. That has happened before many times. Sometimes emergencies happen. If you miss an interview, you shouldn’t participate in the conversation about that candidate.
School committee writes job description and criteria. Search committee guided by that but also flexible enough to take in other important criteria plans its work. Search committee is oriented and develops its questions and prepares for interviews while the application process is open.
Mea: how many do you typically interview
A: depends on pools. Typically likes to look at 8-10.
Search committees like to see all the candidate applications. When applications come in, they are scanned in. When close comes, consultant puts them in a voluntary tiering system. The report is separate from stack of applications, but you can decide when you want to view it.
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If you aren’t on the search committee, you don’t find out who the other candidates are. Even if you are on the school committee.
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If you don’t keep that line, you will get less qualified candidates who don’t want it known they are searching so early on.
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If when narrowed, you don’t have a viable candidate, you can go back through applications. Or through people who didn’t apply for public process. To meet with mayor and vice chair in a private meeting. Or you can start all over again.
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Belson: we have a strong administration that will support a new person coming in. So don’t get sidelined that you need a Special Education or ELL expert or some other expert. Superintendent is a CEO. That person needs to have good people under them. We have those good people who will help move the district forward. Don’t get so narrow looking for expertise. We have some people that we need to lock up into contracts.
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Mike: what is flexibility of job description?
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A: job description is a technical document. Some items are just district specific. We have a tech school. Some have special assignments. Most descriptions are interchangeable. Want good communication skills. Someone who can argue effectively with the state. Being asked to take a larger role in public policy arena especially in Massachusetts.
Mike: how long to form search committee?
A: can be formed quickly or can take forever. Some bogged down in process. Some very quickly.
Lisa: social media. Has that affected or had an impact on searches?
A: has made sharing info quicker and less expensive. Every rumor in the district tends to be aired out as well.
Paulette: when candidates are narrowed down, does search committee go to home district?
A: ask them not to move anyone forward that they wouldn’t want to be superintendent. Do the candidates a disservice to move them forward if you have no intentions of hiring them. Those names become public. They call the final candidates they are moving out of search committee to let them know compensation and ask if the job is offered if they will accept. Is there anything else I need to know?
Burke: who does background checks and when?
A: preliminary done before. More extensive check is done by school committee.
Burke: is committee ready to decide how the appointments are made.
It was quickly decided that the Mayor will select all search committee members.
Burke: number of members? 3 School Committee, 4 parents one of each level (one level is Voke), 3 teachers one of each level, 1 administrator, a student and an ELL specialty. Wants diversity director to be on committee.
Agreed to have 11 to 15 members.
Will entertain another consultant before deciding if they will engage the Mass Superintendent group.
Get samples of what superintendent brochures look like. Then decide what items need to be in one for Medford. Description of city. Photos of city.
December meetings are Dec 4 and Dec 11.
Burke: wants to develop a form to determine what hats people in community wear to look at who they want on search committee.
If they want to invite internal candidates to apply early for an initial screening publicly before school committee, they can do that. Then they can decide if they have found their person or if they want some of them to compete in the wider search or just aren’t interested in them. Often found that internal candidates are enough and they don’t need to look further.
Erin: motion to look at internal candidates before going any further.
Burke: want to look at internal candidates. To cultivate our people and help them grow and stay here.
Motion unanimously passed.
Meeting adjourned.
11:06 pm
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