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Report on the Lowell School Committee
Personnel Subcommittee Meeting (1/23/2008)

The Lowell School Committee meeting of the personnel subcommittee finally took place last night in the LHS Cafeteria.  It was not televised live. It was a long evening, beginning at 7 pm and ending at 10:30.  A staff member from Lowell Educational TV (channel 22) taped the meeting.  It will be rebroadcast on Fri. 1/25 at 7:00pm; Sat 1/26 at 9:00pm, Sun 1/27 at 7:00am and Mon 1/28 at 12:00pm.   The meeting is worth watching.  But here is a brief synopsis of the final decisions made to in the search process for our new Superintendent.  (Thanks to Dick Howe for his great notes).

 
Although the initial meeting was just a subcommittee meeting, all school committee members were present and fully participated in all but the motion making and voting.  (The personnel subcommittee is chaired by Connie Martin with Regina Faticanti and Dave Conway as members).  They divided their effort into three areas: The establishment of a timeline; the makeup of the Superintendent Screening Committee; and the procedural rules to be followed by that committee. 
 
Here’s the timeline that was established: 

  • Tomorrow, the Mayor’s Office will send letters to the various entities selected this evening to be part of the Superintendent Screening Committee, asking each entity to submit a nominee for the screening committee. 
  • These entities are to provide the Mayor with names no later than February 1. 
  • On February 4, the Mayor will announce the names of the individuals who will serve on the screening committee. 
  • February 4 is also the deadline for the receipt of applications for the position of superintendent (although the advertisement that’s been published sets that deadline as February 1). 
  • Immediately after the February 6 School Committee meeting, the screening committee and the School Committee will have some type of public meeting to kick off the process. 
  • The screening committee will then do its work – IN EXECUTIVE SESSION – and will present the School Committee with the names of the top five applicants it selects no later than March 14. 
  • The School Committee will then conduct interviews and elect the new superintendent from this group of five.

There was quite a lot of discussion about the actual makeup of the Superintendent Screening Committee, much of it interesting.  Here’s the makeup of the screening committee:

  1. Citywide Parent Council chairperson or designee
  2. Citywide Parent Council member - must be member of a minority group
  3. Lowell Plan president or designee
  4. Chamber of Commerce president or designee
  5. UMass Lowell chancellor or designee
  6. Middlesex Community College president or designee 
  7. Lowell public school teacher #1 (more than 5 years experience in Lowell)
  8. Lowell public school teacher #2 (more than 5 years experience in Lowell)
  9. Lowell public school principal (more than 10 years as principal)
  10. Ted Rurak (former Assistant Superintendent of Schools)
  11. Community Teamwork Inc executive director or designee
  12. Lowell public school social worker (more than 10 years experience)
  13. Special Education Parent Advisory Council member

The School Committee also agreed to ask former Mayor Eileen Donoghue to be the non-voting chair of the screening committee.  During the full School Committee meeting, John Leahy made a motion that all members of the screening committee be residents of Lowell.  Only Leahy and Jackie Doherty voted in favor of such a requirement.  Bud Caulfield, Regina Faticanti, Jim Leary, Connie Martin and Dave Conway all voted against the requirement that members of the screening committee be residents of Lowell.