##VIDEO ID:uTcH68_OlOc## e e e e e e e evening today is Wednesday January 22nd 2025 we are here at the school committee meeting and I would like to call the meeting to order it is 7:31 I'd like to remind everyone that we are being taped live by wmctv and we are streamed as well having said that I call the meeting to order and I'll start off with the Pledge of Allegiance so if everyone could rise I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America to the repic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with libery and justice for all excellent thank you very much one thing on the agenda tonight's the superintendent search committee discussion so you determine next steps and establish a search committee for the hiring of the next superintendent having said that i' would like to discuss a little bit of the process so if we could have the each for schools this py brown step up and give us a little information as how this process could work please and thank you hi for the public I'm Patty Brown I'm the director of HR for St green are you on the green light is on okay okay good really soft you're very soft you got to do your outside voice my outside voice inside is that yeah okay blowing the blow um so I I brought with me today a a process that I have outlined that I'd like to just share with you something as an option for the school committee to consider um as one way to conduct a search and and find a superintendent eventually um so I'm going to just hand that out mind girl's not coming thank you I have thank you okay so I've written out sort of two sections of this um and one is just how to structure a committee a subcommittee that the uh school committee would charge to do to do a search a pre-screening process and a search to determine which of the applicants would be recommended forward by that committee to this governing body um from which you would interview and go through a process to make a final selection um I'm suggesting a structure but but you can adjust that as you feel necessary of two school committee members um two staff members one of which is a teacher and one of which is an administrator um and a parent representative um and you'd have to go through a process for how you would solicit individuals who might be interested in serving any of those roles if those are roles that you want to fill in those numbers um and then a process once that committee is formed that they would go through what would the commit the time commitment be what would it take to get from here to there um and so their first meeting they would review the role of the committee itself um that comes from a charge from this uh from the school committee they would select a chair for their group review the job description discuss some screening criteria and Report out to the school committee at school committee meetings of the progress of the committee along the way um and then select some meeting dates they'd have another um meeting to select some interview questions that they would want to ask of candidates review the applications that come in and then select those applicants that they want to interview I reserved meeting three and four for interviewing candidates um you could probably interview about six in that amount of time they may need to add more time depending on how many applicants they choose to select to interview and then the fifth meeting they'll discuss reference checks for those they're considering bringing forth as finalists finalize those candidates and then bring them forward to the school committee for your consideration once that's done their their job is done that group is finished and this group takes over there's a what we have done in the past class we did have a day where we invited finalists to come I've put some activities that finalists could do on that day that you could decide to do in different ways um with different amounts of time attached to them so for example uh visiting a school visiting with uh School administration and Leadership um attending a staff and public forum perhaps combined rather than separate um and getting that feedback we do have a lot of Staff who live in Marboro as well and kind of serve in both roles they also are parents of some of our students in addition to serving as staff members so um it would make it probably more um robust than maybe having it separate as we did the last time and then the school committee gets to review all the feedback and exit tickets from all of those activities and consider you know where you want to go from there so that would be my my recommendation for a way to follow a search process that I would be willing to facilitate if you would like me to do that there's other ways to do it there are organizations outside that do this kind of thing as well and may bring another process forward for you to consider if you wanted to do go that direction there's other individuals you can have facilitate this but just putting it out there is something that I would bring forward to recommend for your consideration thank you we'll open up to questions concerns questions statements yes sure why not why not I'll start it off how about that so um stating the obvious we're really sad that you're going to be heading out we would obviously not like to be uh put in the position but we completely understand and um need to go I'm not sure if I understand sorry I'm in your Camp okay okay I'm trying to understand out of my control so um I I appreciate you pulling this back up so that we could review um I think this is really very similar to um our last situation that we had I think we've also kind of learned um some um through some of our superintendent searches and some of us have had more experience than we really ever really wanted or expected to have on doing the searches um I think if I understand correctly um the posting closes posting is up it closes on the 27th of January Monday for allowance of internal or Andor external candidates to put their name forward for consideration at that point um and it would be a matter of needing to select the initial committee to be able to review those resumés hopefully that you've already done some form of a pre-screening right guys I'm hoping yeah I would definely articulating and saying out loud our hope is to use your um expertise on that um so that we can then move forward we have qualified applicants right right yeah against I I measure against the qualifications in the job description so lure obviously being one of them you know and other other things that you know already noted in the job description yes I I'll do all that is it possible that we might be in a position where we could go ahead and at least um look at selection initial selection of a committee based upon those that would be here and then knowing that we would need to them move forward on on considering of the rest of the makeup of the committee and then um move forward on some of the selections of some potential questions at some point are we the only thing I'm I'm thinking of is obviously with not all of us being being a part of that selection committee I think um we may have questions that we want to make sure that the committee is asking um and I have been a part of of a selection committee previously but I'm wondering if it may be something that the committee as a whole might be able to review some questions I don't know if that's um something that people would be up for but I think it's I think it might be helpful and I'm just kind of throwing it for some reason I I and maybe it wasn't I thought we were able to see the questions and fine-tune them the last time outside of the commit I wasn't on the subcommittee so I don't know I don't remember I mean there there are laws around the the questions have to be done in Open Session and they have to be done by the subcommittee right that's what I'm saying is that that we can have input and they have to be consistent with the each candidate I mean that like well same questions for every candidate yeah I don't know if it's the the committee if the committee can as a whole discuss the questions or it has to be the subcommittee I guess is my question so there's two levels of questions so the subcommittee is only putting forth a finalist so the questions that they're asking they typically would decide those questions but then when you bring a finalist into public session with have your own questions that you put forth okay um yeah and at that time could certainly share the questions that were asked of of the candidates in the pre-screening process because those questions have to be in Open Session those questions have to be created in open session so we would know what those questions were if we yes the ones for you the you are asking by law no sub and the ones of the subcommittee yeah you should check that okay but I'm pretty sure if that's the case yeah I don't think the subcommittee ones have to be I think it's they okay we'll have to check on that yeah we'll check bence on that and we'll do whatever right is required by law I've recently found a lot of things that perhaps didn't always go according to the law in the basket no the the other well I mean we did what we thought we were doing correctly but um the the question on um whether or not somebody is the pre-screening by you in your office um it it is actually very easy to get licensed as a superintendent it's harder to get licensed for the assistant superintendent than it is for a superintendent so the we should review it's an assistant and superintendent Li is that the same license it's the same license I just was surpris I was very surprised license is yes there are there are different paths to lure yeah yep some of which are easier than because somebody doesn't already have the lure doesn't mean that they're not qualified to be a superintendent they're either licensed or they're highly licensable right so um and when you review the materials as we do for teachers so for example if you have a um a teacher coming through an ed prep program they don't yet have a license but we do actually interview them and consider them and we do hire them for the fall um we do have teachers who apply from out of state and there are there's a path to quickly get a temporary license for a year um there's a similar path for a superint dependent candidate who maybe is licensed in another state and wants to practice here so that might be a highly licensable candidate and yes there's the provisional um path as well so and and I'm going to be this one who just says it out loud which is we're going to also make the assumption that you're going to Google people and and I hate to say it that way but if there's information out there that we don't want as part of our community in a candidate I don't want it to be as a surprise if I Google that person to find that out if you know what I'm saying that there the unfortunately tarnish is out there for everybody and um I think that can eliminate some people because just don't fit with us and I I'm not saying that it should be an automatic exclusion but I'm saying it needs no surprises so my response to that at this time would be that we'll do a thorough background check on I'm not saying happened before I'm just saying and there's lots of in ways that you can get that information whether you know Google is the way or not it may not need to be um but there's other ways to get good solid information on candidates in the reference checking process as well um but yeah yeah without going into it I would say from previous experience of some of the subcommittees that I did need to sit on for superintendent searches not just superintendent I'm just saying in any positions understandably but I was going to say I I know that that was something where I was reviewing candidates and um calling and asking questions about different gaps I mean there may be reasons for things but again I just don't want it to I don't want any of us to be surprised by anything that's really all it comes down any other questions comments I just I I would you know I would say that just looking even at the masc website um which masc does do superintendent searches and there are already uh a number of different um superintendent searches that are already underway um whether applications have already been um completed and put in or they're in process and so I think we as a community just need to be very aware of that that process um because um hopefully we'll be able to look not only with internal potential internal candidates but also with you know whatever we're going to see but I think we also need to be aware that um there there are a lot of searches going on right now you know and so I think we just need to be very aware of that situation on how we're going to be able to move forward just part of part of the puzzle I guess I would say that we need to consider okay is this the the the composition of the search committee was only five people that's what I'm I'm recommending you can change the numbers in any way that you would want to adjust them you want to be larger or smaller or different makeup and composition I was going to say I feel like last yeah we had three either seven or can't be AUM right we had one school committee member who didn't continue on the pro process and we had one oh there join the process yeah last time was a little bit wonky so I think ultimately we wound up with two not your I wasn't but I thought it was just oh three yeah but who was the third yeah the mayor yeah well the mayor was brief brief period for brief period so I guess let's open that up are we okay with these numbers then and if so who wants to be on the committee I mean I'm sure you're all going to jump at the opportunity right who was on it last time Denise Dan Dan Dan Denise and you as well okay if I remember correctly we actually put names into a hat because everybody wanted to actually have does everyone want to be on the committee this time around I do not you do not I would like to you can say no it's okay there's that don't want to be but did have a chance I know you guys had several chances we've had several chances yes okay we can put names put into house are we assuming that Earl wants to be in it or no I mean not here do not know that I was going to say considering that he's just taken on this new position he may not have the flexibility right okay who has a hat oh don't have a shapo you can find a bowl in the kitchen okay let's do it I was going to say the plastic Bend that's right over there well I guess the question is are we okay with two or are we okay with more than that yes be three but there's four of us you can't be a forum so I I understand that but I mean I don't want to pick out two names so we're going to do three so let's decide on number how many people we want to be on the committee before we start picking names perfect that's true no peing I I would recommend three I would recommend thank you John I appreciate it can I just curious because I I don't if you're doing three then by the time we get to the final stage the persons or persons have already talked to three of the members already through the process and they already talked to half the school commit well sorry Mr almost half School me and I I I just don't understand why we would need to do three again I just I mean I have no problem with it it just seems two seems to me I'm trying to be more efficient this time if we can be that's no reason I think two be better but so I'm not against three it's just I'm not it just seems kind of odd to have the person final two three canes come and talk to the same three people they've talked to through the whole process and you I'm thinking it more on the lines of if one of us is sick or can't make a meeting like at least there's a we have at least two school committee members to represent in that event okay I'm thinking also that there can be a change in the process of the subsequent steps that it doesn't have to be all the members during some of the things so those have been through that early process don't have to attend something that way it's not repetitive as to what you're saying okay I mean obviously the night of finalists everybody needs to be there but as we like to say the dog and pony show doesn't have to be everybody I think it sounds like we're in agreement of three if we were to vote I I would I'd like to have it be3 because I think as Denise pointed out I think all of us have pretty full lives so while obviously this would be a priority I think it's just great to be able to have kind of the fallback that at least um you know two are there because we're going to have to move efficiently as possible and hopefully three could be there but it just allows few few additional set ofy okay so there's four people for three spots yes mhm write your name write your name sir have the orange bucket please okay the four pieces of paper are pretty much equal in size so there's no uh trying to do this as democratically as possible are we folding the paper ul's going to pick yes I'm we're going to let ool pick you know what we all did this really fast and you thought the mcats were bad okay yeah I that was my first thing was I was right here no half and half half and half quarters yeah got you or a quarter half and half okay so [Laughter] Democratic the last time you get a chance to do something pressure I'm picking three of them you're picking three okay or the one that's or pick one who's out no we'll pick three three winners we'll make you work this you're picking three okay do it like you want me to announce it or no we'll wait till the end okay only a tool and I will know oh that's fine okay cool read them off my friend any objection to this process Noir and square okay the first one was Dan Dan Mr Dan uh Mrs Hennessy Mrs Ryan sorry M and Mrs Ryan is that the third one Ry sorry sorry that's you cry all the time I'm okay holding it together okay okay so can you just elaborate on how the staff will get picked and the actual parent representative so we just have a better understanding yeah so um for staff members um you we could put a question out to the staff for anyone to express interest in in participating in the search committee and what the reasons would be why they are interested or why they feel they would be um good for serving on the committee and then um can bring that back and you can consider that or you can delegate that Duty I believe to someone to review and make make a choice okay how do people feel about that um last time we had the um mea president was one of the representatives and we also had an administrator as well which I thought gave some great Insight so I don't know if are we allowed to just ask those same to PE or I guess it's a different ma president but yep can we ask those two individuals again we can or sure to pick I don't know what to pick the staff members or to be on either that or to serve themselves I think it would be important to have an administrator on the committee because I you don't have that listed but I thought that they gave some really good insight and they knew what questions to ask as well I I I will say that um oh I see one Elton did um request that they be part of the process so um I think the first person to go to would be Elton to Elton and whether it's he or a design that he feels um I think that would be very important from mea and I agree I think an an administrator a build a building leader I think is very important so and I think in terms of the parent representative hopefully there's somebody watching now who's dying to be part of our group who could just email you um they can they can if they want to um email me Express an interest and why they'd be interested in it but I I wouldn't be the person to select the parent I think there needs to be one of you that selects parent maybe somebody who's on the can the three members select we select that at the first meeting or is that just how when do we select that how you want to select that the first meeting so that that person could be invited to the first meeting so I can share that information out with there's a lot of parent interest this is a pretty big bucket and we can do the same same process for consistency purposes but I take but yeah y so if you okay I guess my hope would be that we would be able to put something out on say like our social media and an email that would be sent out um possibly through like say PTO access because obviously at the um elementary schools they do have that conduit of the PTO that's normally pretty busy and similar if there's an opportunity at middle and high school um so that we can solicit appropriately and if it would be possible that they could respond back to you to then provide I don't know how you want to do it whether to the chair and the chair and the vice chair maybe since you're not sitting on that committee maybe between the two of you you guys riew those candidates and that way it's it's a way of you know us not necessarily creating the committee that we're already on but having you to be able to review the candidates at that time um with Patty as you know a third option to discuss the situation and maybe that would be you know similar if it if it were something where um from Elton standpoint with the mea there were multiple candidates that were in consideration and similar with an administrator maybe it really could be funneled from Patty to YouTu to be able to work as your own little committee would that be feasible to you all yeah I'm fine with that I just think that that way it takes it away from y us making a selection too y you guys okay with that okay yeah I think that's a good idea for anybody watching tonight or listening to this at some point who might be interested um my email address my contact information is all on the Maro Public Schools website um you can contact me by phone or by email and I'll do the intake and then is there a generic one is there an HR at MPS there's an HR mps-edu.org you can also use that as well right but there's a link right on right on the website you can get and you are again your name Brown I'm the Director of Human Resources for marel public schools we know who you are but just in case okay any other questions comments concerns regarding this I think we covered almost everything can I ask is there like a do you have a time frame in mind or not quite yet well once the um applications close hopefully by then or so shortly after you'll have your committee identified and we'll have some dates set up that could take probably about a month to get through maybe a little bit longer um so that would be my first estimate but it depends on the availability of the committee members and how many meetings we can fit in and then come back we'll backwards design to a school committee meeting that you have already existing that we could um bring finalist I mean I would also to piggyback on getting names of community members are parent that and if somebody puts it out on social media that maybe by next Tuesday is the deadline for the interest because that way we know that the applications are in and then you you guys can work on for making sure that that group gets done so reach out to Elton reach out to the community and okay the 27th is next Monday I know but I'm saying by Tuesday yeah well for the for the committee to be formed yes and then from that point forward it's probably going to be a month okay a month for what I'm sorry I just want to clarify a month yeah but even if the committee process even if the job posting closes you still have to vet them through your office you're vetting them as they come come in it's pretty quick yeah so I do think it would take I mean I think what might be really best is at the next school committee meeting I can give you like deadlines and dates for where head once we have the committee I wanted to start a deadline of Tuesday of community interest exess interest mea or remember can the communication go out that this is needed tomorrow I don't is that true okay yeah I don't think that's unrealistic I mean I don't that's what I'm asking I don't want to put more if it's heavy lift I don't want to make like you know okay send it out through the website okay push it out through the app I would think since the word out the is people ready to hit the send button already you didn't get the push the other day it worked I didn't okay anything else I think we addressed a lot of concerns so and my understanding that so next Tuesday we have a meeting will you be at that meeting and you can tell us how many applicants we've received uh yes and and then we can have like kind of a somewhat of a timeline then yeah I know it's approximate timeline first I want to make sure you actually want to go with this process and then once we just identify who's part of it if this is something you want to do and it sounds like it is since you've approved the structure are you comfortable with the number of meetings and I don't see an issue with it I don't know if any I don't see an issue either but I I guess I would leave it up to the three of you at the first meeting to decide if that is adequate I mean I I think what's going to drive a lot of it's going to be how many applications you have so um that would be my take on it would be that once we actually see how many applications come in it's going to help to drive a little bit more how much time we needed in that interviewing process um because it could be trunk or it might need to be elongated depend depending upon the number of qualified candidates um at that point okay and I would just think that what we can do is obviously once we would assess that number next week um maybe at that point um we would have we would plan an initial meeting after having the selection and then that group could have a discussion about how to move forward and maybe then we could report to the chair about um our thoughts on the approach right well we can also just approve this pending how many interviews needed to be conducted right so that way we can if we need to have a meeting three and four and then five for interview candidates then we can adjust that but would like to approve some type of structure okay so if we have a motion to vote pending the how many interview candidates then I think we'll be covering the process that make sense okay so I need a motion I'm not on the committee so I'm not I mean I'm I we need a motion as a school Comm for the structure okay um unless there unless there's more conver conversation well we can make the motion and then have conversation so a motion to approve the the uh structure that Patty has presented to us for the superintendent search handing interview candidates based upon more meetings right well timeline it actually says additional meetings added if necessary so so it's okay with with with except the only change would be to add an extra School Committee Member to the correct we'd make this three and then I would say we'll call pre- meting one is the 28th really like the pre-meeting establishment of the all the the full committee subcommittee and the and the number of applicant does that make sense on Tuesday so the 28th just so I'm clear on it that's the next school committee meeting is the so on the 28th of January y you'd like to have the the committee report out the committee set up and the report out on number of candidates the number of candidates yeah does that does that make sense is that realistic that your volunte by 2 good point good point so so make an adjustment to that I guess my question is are we going to be able to introduce someone in that quick of a turnaround to have it be ready for Tuesday to do the parent right I I think that whoever parent is selected AR we aren't we selecting them yeah or take it home okay I'm just concerned if we if has to be adjusted for the the parent person it's just if we don't have that exact name on Tuesday that's okay we didn't okay that's what I just that's what I just want to make sure that okay that's okay all right cuz when you said the committee will be formed if no to me form means that we have that name I just want that's we're proving the structure of it the actual members I'm comfortable with if you guys can't make that decision on the parent or Community person right I'm for the 28th and it will be soon after it will happen right we just may have a long discussion yeah okay I I hope it takes you longer than three minutes to get through it meaning I hope there's a lot of people there's a lot of people interested yeah right right and my question is who who is going to be uh um reaching out to Elton specifically is that something that you want to do to reach out to i' be happy to that would I'm just thinking because of you know all that you've had to deal with I'll be happy to reach out to them it just kind of makes sense and um then as far as from an administrator standpoint is that something that we could request from you Mary on reaching out to the administrators to let them know that we're hoping to have a candidate involved and if they're interested to to let Patty know so so that way it's similar is that possible everyone okay with that thank you there's any motion on the table to approve the structure and process of the superintending search with the amendment to three school committee members is there a second second second any other further comments questions concerns seeing none all in favor motion carries thank you moving on I brought one other thing um um I brought a a sample charge that this committee would charge the subcommittee with what they are charged to do and bring back to you it is short okay hand it out and if someone wanted to consider either passing a motion to accept that charge or amend it I think you have to charge the to do something thank you thank Youk so W brown just handed out charge to superintendent search committee the charge to the superintendent search committee is for the purpose of screening and interviewing candidates and delivering successful candidates as a recommendation of finalist for the school committee's consideration just for the people at home I will read that one more time the charge the superintendent search committee is for the purpose of screening and interviewing candidates and delivering successful candidates as a recommendation of finalists for the school committee's consideration any questions comments concerns or discussions regarding the charge to the superintendent search committee I don't know if this is too I I think maybe it's just meant to be simple but the word successful candidate successful we hope they're successful but how do we really know till they go through the whole process I just don't know if that we could substitute that word with something else or if it's just fine the way it is qualified candidates qualified I like qualified maybe better qualified I mean I'm not trying to over it you're right I mean our hope is that I I think qualified speaks to in delivering qualified candidates yeah so I'd like to make a motion that we approve the chart oh wait do I wouldn't do it you guys would have to do it wouldn't it you can make a can I do it okay okay so I'd like to make a motion that we approve the charge uh with the change of the word qualified so I would read the charge to the superintendent search committee is for the purpose of screening and interviewing candidates and delivering qualified candidates as a recommendation of finalist for the school committee's consideration I'll second it motions on the table and seconded any questions comments concerns further discussions seeing none all in favor motion carries we have a charge excellent thank you very much for all your help with this thanks P I appreciate it and thank you a tool for yes a tool thank you um I walk I I'll walk you out cuz my Shell's a little uh I'll protect you okay moving on my favorite public comments is there any public comments seeing none public comment going twice seeing none third time public comment seeing none all righty everyone else's favorite part of the meeting motion to adjourn motion to adjourn is on the table and seconded any questions comments concerns about adjourning seeing none all in favor we adjourned at 8:13 thank you