okay today is Thursday March 13th and this is the first meeting of the Westport Community School Superintendent search subcommittee time is now locally late at 4:53 uh and I will call the meeting to order and ask real quick
stand the of the United States of America thank you all very much this meeting is being conducted as a hybrid meeting on March 29 2023 Governor Mor hey signed the Law chapter 2 of the acts 2023 which
includes a two-year extension of the option for public bodies to hold remote meetings effective immediately this legislation simply extends the turn option remote meetings through March 31st 2025 and it's not otherwise the ability of public bodies to conduct their meetings remotely through video
Andor audio conferencing under chapter 20 of the acts of 2021 uh I note this meeting is going to be conducted in an open session with an executive session to follow at 5:30 uh there is a separate link and we'll just all pray that it works when that time
comes so the uh the superintend search subcommittee has been established by the school committee to oversee the process of identifying and recommending candidates for the position of superintendent our role is to review applications conduct interviews and
ultimately present a list of finalist to the full school committee for consideration uh this is an incredibly important process and as the superintendent plays obviously a crucial role in shaping the future of Westport Community Schools I would like to thank each of you for your time dedication to
this effort uh your your commitment to this process is ensure that we'll find a a strong candidate to best serve our sta staff students and the Westport Community uh very quickly I'd like to go around the room and the virtual room to just do quick
introductions uh and I'll start out my name is grer I'm on the school committee and have been selected as the chair of the sub commmittee and I guess we we'll start there I am Chris NOS I'm the middle school band director Pat band director Alto Tech director aor Jack all
Trad master of non post I'm Nikki Potter I have a child here at the middle school and a daughter at the elementary school um I was actually on the search committee back in 2018 I think it was for the superintendent process so I'm honored to be here again
um I think I bring a unique one to the committee I am a sitting School business manager so I have a strong financial background um and I completely understand the challenges that schools face with regards to funding and finding strongly there
so Amud I the specializ clerk for 5 through 12 plus I've been in the district 23 years so I've had quite a few superintendent so and I am also looking forward to uh this proc thank Laura sherette building principal of the
middle high school I have been um in Westport for 17 years started as a math teacher and now a building administrator uh laor Melo on me well on the just worked with four superintend but I was I've never been on superintend
surgery so I forward to I'm Sharon King the recording so you w to introduce yourself briefly or yes I'm suzan wilinsky I'm the school nurse on um been there for 15 years traveled to Washington DC with Mr vas and it was
lovely okay secret Jay's coming on as well as long as he ACS the panelite there we go yeah excellent Jay thanks for bearing with us here Jay uh we're just doing H just quick
introduction right quick so you want to say hello no problem uh Jason Pico sorry I had to uh join from home today um but uh former employee of the district um current school committee member with two children um in the district one at the
high school and one at the middle school thank you Jay um so I would ask would it be possible for you to mail what I sent you over to J absolutely that way they have and I'll do a
follow-up email with the full committee afterwards uh thank you to everybody who's able to attend today sorry about the L start uh bit of a technical challenge the um I I should mention the purpose of having this particular meeting be a hybrid meeting was so that uh we're going to go over some of the
the process here and just wanted to make sure that there was a recording I understand obviously there we have quite a few members who aren't able to attend uh today uh going forward the meetings were uh there will be a poll sent out a doodle poll to figure out exactly the
best time uh for the uh the meetings going ahead um what I'm going to do today is just go over a memo that I have provided everybody with a copy of here I will also uh Suzanne and and Jay Lori is sending you a copy right now and I'll
also be sending this copy uh sending a copy to the full committee after uh today's meeting so uh just want to go over a few of the expectations the process going forward here um as I mentioned earlier we have we currently
have 10 candidates uh that have applied thus far uh there will be a a uh screening uh through or I should say the HR Director is going to take a look just to make sure you know everybody's uh
meets the required uh the required condition the required uh uh credentials as as per the uh as per the the posted job description so we may or may not have have 10 candidates or more to uh to
see we can go basically go through those and figure out who we want to interview out of those uh as as semi-finalist so I'm just going to go through the memo right quick um as I mentioned again thank you to everybody for for uh being a part of this it is it's certainly
quite an undertaking here uh I'm going to just read a few things first of all the the search committee the search subcommittee expectations uh to maintain fairness professional professionalism and efficiency all members are are expected to adhere to the following uh please note strict confidentiality is
required at all times so all candidate discussions interviews and and all the related materials must remain private and that does mean not discussing the applicants or anything that this subcommittee discusses in executive
session outside of executive session uh there do have a uh confidentiality agreement that has been provided to us by uh our HR director and I would uh ask everybody to uh just read and sign that
uh for those of you who are here you do it before uh before you leave today that would be most appreciated um as far as the uh as far as the instruction meetings I am going to try and adhere to Robert R border um I
imagine that when we get 12 people to e here all at once it it it can get uh get a little crazy so I just I just want make sure that uh that we're able to to to have an efficient process and uh just
uh would like everybody to to adhere to that to that type of uh that type of requirements and also profession of the qu all that that's up so um the search subcommittee uh the composition as everyone knows here has two members of
the school committee which is uh myself and uh Mr Chico uh the uh president of the the Westport Federation of teachers president of uh as me uh the the two two administrative staff members two additional refs from The District staff two parent representatives and two
Community Representatives um if anyone has not seen the uh superintendent search subcommittee uh I guess purpose or whatever the document that was approved by by the school committee please take a look at that and
I'll make sure you email that as well uh so back to the meeting dates and times going forward um each of you will have a a link to the poll please as soon as you're able to uh try and try and get that uh back so we can figure out the right time um so just going to say a
little bit about the application review and the selection of the semi-finalists uh so again the is directors going to conduct an initial review and then they'll be presented to the subcommittee at our next meeting which is going to be uh next week sometime we'll figure out
the best dat time uh will review all the applications and select semi-finalist for interviews um I I do want to mention uh right now this is this is another example of why everything Beyond this
meeting is going to be in an executive session and the applications and and uh all the credentials and everything that's presented by the candidates you'll be able to view those in the executive session but nobody you can't take copies
with this to just to maintain confidentiality for our candidates um I I am going to make sure that all the materials will be available for review 30 minutes before the scheduled time for Beach meeting uh and and if anyone needs
an additional appointment time to take a look at any any uh documents we can we can arrange that with with person as well um so the uh the plan of action is to have uh interviews with with the
candidates that we select um that would last somewhere between 60 and 90 minutes I don't necessarily think we need all 90 minutes candidate but I just want to make sure that everybody has an opportunity uh so the uh the chair and myself will ask introductory questions
of each candidate and then each of the 12 subcommittee members will have uh five minutes to ask question with 30 minutes reserve for follow-ups now um I am asking for every uh question to be
submitted in writing ahead of time the reason I'm doing that is not to vet questions or keep anything from from coming up it's just so that we can have the most efficient process and make sure that there we have you know even if someone's asking the same question you'll to figure out kind of assignments
if you will um I was I was going to ask you about that uh if each member has five minutes to ask questions you know during those five minutes they can decide you know if uh if La already asked one of my questions and Chris asked another one of
my questions regardless if I submitted them or not but I want to you know I want to on the Fly be able to ask a different question so that I did want to mention that no matter what the opportunity for follow-ups absolutely so if I don't basically I'd like to start
with everything in writing and then um that doesn't mean that that's the only question anybody's going to be allowed to ask or anything like that I just I in in order to try and figure out um like I said the uh you know not to go over or
anything you I I I just I would very much like to have all the questions submitted ahead of time uh for the the again the first questions but follow-ups absolutely again the last one asking questions and you know all of my
questions have been asked an answer and I and I still have my five minutes to ask questions I'm just going to come up with something that you know somebody has to touch so I and I say again I I'm asking that there that you everybody submit the questions but I I will say
you're you're not going to be limited to just what you submit I just want to be clear on that I'm not this isn't the purpose of this isn't to vet anything it's it's just to try and distribute I guess the process as best as possible um and the other thing is I I will say I
have uh inquired on on uh a couple search committee uh couple of people who have been involved in in search committees for other things outside of this for other positions um and they mentioned uh two two two individuals
actually mentioned that this was a good way to keep a committee that's that's a large working committee um move keep it moving and make sure that we can use the time best so um but again I'm not going to it's not like I'm gonna you know so you for asking a question it wasn't
submitted but I I would ask that everybody submitt ahead time if possible um the um the the other key for that is is we do want to have a fair process so we want to make sure that buy and large we asking the same question to every candidate um I do think there's going to
be instances where a certain uh you know a certain part of someone's resumee or certain part of someone's background that might be different questions and that's that's of course going to be welcome as well but I would as much as possible like to keep questions Chris if the idea of this again I haven't been on
one of these and I I hope I didn't sign up for something I don't want to do my intention isn't to ask these guys or gals you know what's your favorite color uh you know what kind of car do you drive and ask every single every single one of them those same stupid
questions after listening to them maybe answering some of your questions I'm going to have a very good idea what kind of questions I want to ask and I won't necessarily ask the same question of all candidates because that's not fair so I mean I mean again after listening to these people and listening
to the conversation going on in the room you know a question pops into my mind I think every candid should able to ask that question I that's not and and no matter what you're going to have that opportunity that's what I'm saying I I I I guess I my the point of this is is efficiency and and I do think it is fair
to have buy and large s if you hold the members five minutes that's the thing your five minutes is your five minutes yeah now I I just the bottom line here is I I don't want anybody to walk out of these meetings with question that wasn't asked just because he didn't submit it
like if something comes up absolutely so I again it's just this is a this is a request for to try and make this as as smooth process as possible I I do think that In fairness most of the questions should be simpar
uh yeah I think I think I think yeah I think from like a HR perspective you have to have you should have a standard set of questions then you can go on from there asking candidat specific questions but really the intent going into the
initial search should be a template of here's 25 questions that we're asking every single candidate and then you ask your followup questions absolutely it's almost like we take turns asking the questions and then you know me do your followup question that's that's exactly what what I'm kind of do will they get a
copy of the question uh that is something I actually wanted to talk with no no no that's actually I was actually and I just um Suzanne has her hand up so I want to make sure go right go right ahead thank you um are you
going to decide the number of candidates interviewed based on the uh review of the credentials or do you have a set number in mind no that the committee is going to decide that's actually our next next week's meeting that's ex we're going to talk about um I um the
purpose of today's executive session in 20 minutes if if I can talk fast enough is that uh I'm gonna just give everybody a list of what we have thus far um I also want to mention our uh the application states that there's a strong
preference that people submit their application by uh next Monday um we left it open in a way where if something comes in beyond that that doesn't necessarily automatically include somebody from being considered but um by and large we should have most of the you
the vast majority of the applicants by next Monday then we'll come back uh with next week's meeting and go and decide how many people we want to interview um I I I think I think it's realistic uh to not expect to interview all 10 but at
the same time uh I do think that that uh most of uh there's a lot of good candidates already for sure so so I but I'm going to leave that to the uh the Committees I think too submitting them ahead of time allows you to group them
together into like themes right so if you and I ask a budget question and it's a very similar question well we don't want to waste your time asking the same question let's just get it as one question and then we can move on and it gives us the ability to ask deeper question questions right by sort of
consolidating them I guess that's that's that's the intention that is that is the exact intention so um so the uh and you what you just mentioned I asked if the candidates will have a list of the question so that is
actually something I I was curious um I think that there should be I do AG we should have kind of like saying preliminary questions just um but I I don't necessarily want give all of the candidates all of the questions up ahead
of time um but maybe if we come up with say five standard ones just start outway or something I mean something something to that uh and part of it is I I I find that I'm able to g i a in other settings
being on uh this when hiring um an open-ended prompt is usually gives you the the most info about somebody or their approach to anything so you know might I will probably begin the question by you know all right F tell tell us a little bit about yourself you know
what's what's something you want to highlight and and go from there uh so I um and that's that's something that I want to I would like to discuss with the uh with as many committee as possible at our next our next meeting we're going
through resumes and going through to select other candidates to to interview so um and and go going back to the number like I said we may or we may have more we may have less depending on who applies and also the the first round
screening just to make sure everybody's got credentials so Su I see your okay there you okay EXC no wor just wanted to make sure not just want to make sure we're not missing just mess with everybody I
got a question okay um so let's see the next thing is talking about timeline um I mentioned this here on the the interview process but it's also on the timeline when I say this please understand it's a goal we're g to see if
we can make this work um but my hope is that we will be able to have all of the interviews take place during the week of March 31st uh so that does me multiple meetings that week um but I
think we're on a bit of an accelerated timeline to make sure that we have uh the the opportunity I guess to negotiate with whoever the finalist is going to be uh during May and making sure that for the June June first start date uh we're
ready to go so we are on a bit of aggressive timeline uh and I'm I'm hoping that we can we'll be able to do the interviews that that week um if you look at the the super search timeline here you'll see uh just what I was talking about earlier so uh next
week the meeting will be the selection of of those to interview um the uh we'll set the the interview schedule after the uh the 24th the week the 24th through the that's bit of a TI there but you guys know what I mean here um
and then let's see the uh the meetings on on the 31st through April 4 the expectation is that we'll select a finalist uh the the finalist to to give to the committee uh the week of April
7th then uh make a report to the school committee and then the process continues from there uh beyond our uh our subcommittee's uh charge here so a couple of notes on the plan for the final uh report to the school committee
um there uh we're charged with reporting at least three finalists to the school committee now if we get if we feel strongly there needs to be more if the committee votes to have more you know that we certainly
have that option um I would give that pause just you know let's think about the process here as far as what's going to happen with public meetings and and public uh uh the public interviews so more than three I would say my personal
opinion would would be the three would suffice but again if if the committee feels strongly that we have additional candidates that need to be considered as finalist uh so um the the other thing that I would respectfully ask is that we
choose as a sub commmittee not to rank the finalists and there's a specific reason I'm asking for that uh this as I said Mo said before most of the deliberations that we are going to to be
doing is sub committe is going to be in session and it's not going to be public um I I do believe that a crucial part of selecting the next superintendent is uh have would giving the public an opportunity to be a part of the process
in open school meetings uh school committee meetings and so what happens is when we report the the finalist back to the school committee the school committee will then set up public within the the public uh session uh interviews with with those finalists um so again I would just ask that the
subcommittee not necessarily rank the the finalist and let let that process play out uh in the public school committee meetings so and of course I will just question Mr chair um just for
my own personal knowledge and I try to try to see the the forest for the trees um I've had the interesting ability to see the the side stage of a whole lot of superintendent stres growing up because
my dad has been on and still is on D school committee since 199 so I've seen some of the process from the outside I know this is a very aggressive timeline and that kind of just from knowing what I've seen in the past that
that makes me a little I don't want to say uncomfortable but nervous is there some sort of plan be for a lack of a better term as in if we go through this and we're not totally
sold on something is there the possibility of like a one year you know inter term while we complete a larger I don't want to say more thorough but so more thorough I guess is is the
word even though it's probably not the best choice of words I you know let me let me answer that in two parts first of all is there a plan B as far as the timeline goes absolutely in my mind there is um as far as the question of an
interum that would be a that would be a question for the school committee as a home our our charge as a subcommittee so to speak is to report back finalist um and and we will be presenting a report and
if we come up if if out of all these candidates we don't feel we we we're presenting three finalists but we don't feel that sangin about them we can mention that in the report and and school committee could go there um as far as alternative timelines and everything um I will say that in in my
mind there is a plan B but I'm gonna I'm gonna fall back to the old uh Pray For Rain carry and umbrella so we're gonna hope hope we can stick to this this timeline and if if adjustments need to be made of course be able to make so
uh so beyond uh beyond what we talked about here uh I think that's pretty much the gist of the uh plan of action but I would certainly entertain any questions any any thoughts or follow-ups that we have that anybody has it in
com has there been any discussion of surveying famili and staff about what they're looking for and leader so I will tell you that I've informally had a couple conversations with the school committee chair about that um I think
that that is something that this committee could absolutely uh I guess ask the full school committee can put you know put something about that um I only say that just because it's not officially part of our charge but I think that that I I think that
that would actually uh be be an excellent thing to do I I will say that I know I put out their publicly that I want anyone who has specific concerns specific questions please come to me I can be happy to to ask ask uh you know
certain things of the the candidates so um and I'm hoping that that every member of the committee would certainly be able to uh be willing to get feedback from uh individuals as far as as far as what question to to help them inform what
questions to ask now again confidentiality is is is crucial and that we don't necessarily discuss or we don't discuss the candidates with with members of the public but at the same time um you know I'm I'm I certainly hope to have uh some of the
questions that I ask come from those uh from outside of the the committee school committee um so is that something that the rest committee would like to make if we can't put together for the next uh
school committee as far as putting out survey I have no issues with it I just my only my only fear is finding a way to keep it kind of narrow because otherwise you end up with who who
whoever is getting charged with having to put the survey together and tally everything is going to be getting you know 7,000 questions that they have to weed through and narrow down so maybe if there's a if there's a way to streamline it and kind of steer it in a certain
direction well you could come up with themes right like curriculum that would work yeah you know District leadership I don't know operations and maintenance and then just have people prioritize it and then it's a simple rogle form really I think it would take like a week maybe
like throw it out to the community and I think I just think you get more buyin with whoever you hire when you hear from the masses could we use the current r brick that the superintendent is evaluated on
to maybe guide how we put the question for the survey yeah do have to be because you don't to be overwhelming but at least if you get some feedback because I completely agree with you with like the headers like and and that's how the rubric is in that that
yeah yeah I think um so or you've posted the school commiss for next week I did right um technically could it be yeah if we can add um request um I so the only reason I say i' like to just take it the
the full School commit because technically it's not part of our you know but but I I I think this I think that would be a great idea um so I can get that to on school committee and I'll figure out exactly what word
as one monkey things right out of these things which ones are so yeah it could be very simple sure doesn't have to be anything expensive but I wouldn't think the committee wouldn't want to hear from their staff like what their will be born a leader I think that just goes the long way and your community you want to know what
your families want to see people like this is where the link is go yeah yeah no I think that would I think that would great I I also would like you know I'd probably add in addition the mo report just hey is there a particular question you'd like to ask uh you know or to have
it asked of the candidates so the same I mean talking about question committee same same thing so uh yeah that's great and I'll I'll make sure that that it's ready to go pretty much soon as the vote on on
Tuesday so um I I can't imagine that's that would uh pass pretty quickly so so that's it um so does anybody else have anything else they want to mention
on this at all um i' I'd like to go back once again to saying there um I think that we do have an aggressive timeline I I will tell you with having
seen the candidates list that I have thus far I think we've got some pretty good options so you know we'll see we'll see how uh how the committee feels after meeting some of them but uh but I think uh I I think this is I mean you do want
to be aggressive with the timeline because as long as you stret it out these candidates will be offer job and take job I I understand that but to to the extent that you could do it yeah you want to want to go through it quickly and and I know this search
committee search subcommittee is is a it's kind of a different way of doing it perhaps but um by doing this I guess we have the ability to kind of crowdsource number one uh to to get the best questions asked um but it's also worth donating we're probably going to save
the district somewhere between 25 to $50,000 by doing it in house um and I I personally think we're going to come up with a better result this way than we would if we fed it out so that's that's uh thanes effort here but I think we're
in pretty shap real quick Mr sh I know probably I may be jumping and G be talked in um executive but the the site visits for the finalists is that something that us like any of us that are on the committee
are able to or is that going to be strictly through school committee I will say that I can't technically answer that my gut says it'll be an open situation um Tech technically speaking this committee's purview and this committee
will terminate upon the report given to the school committee um I put the rest of the timeline in there because that is that is the timeline that that uh uh you know Christen mrar had come up with um but I I just don't I I I don't see that
being a problem I just can't officially answer I so um there uh Jay Oran anything else any want to have anything else to inquire about at
this time or no everything sounds um you know pretty standard um you know to me at this point so just looking forward to uh getting on with it excellent excellent all right well um I will say that in approximately four minutes three
minutes two minutes um well we'll have a brief executive session and I'll just go over um the candidates that we have thus far just so everybody knows where we're at uh and then go from there but uh once there anything else I'll entertain a
motion to adjourn motion tojn second all those in favor we technically have to take a roll time so I'll I'll start with you Mr Pico hi Jason Pico
wsky Suzanne are you there oh yes I Suzanne wilinsky hi ton hi CHR hi hi Laura sh hi Christopher we are adjourned at 527