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The quest for the next Sudbury Public Schools (SPS) permanent superintendent will be an open process with opportunities for participation and input from both the school community and the broader community. If all goes as is being planned, SPS will fulfill its goals for transparency and responsiveness.
As described in a Sudbury Weekly article the SPS School Committee voted on September 14 to contract with Collins Center of UMass Boston to usher the district’s search for its next superintendent.
On Friday, October 2, Chair Dr. Jessica MacCready and Vice-chair Betsy Sues, in their roles on the Superintendent Search Working Group, met with the Collins Group to work out initial details and begin to set the calendar of events.
Formation of a Superintendent Search Screening Committee will kick off with opening the application process for members on Monday, October 5. The window for applying will close on October 15. The Screening Committee will include 13 to 17 stakeholders: among them – teachers and parents/caregivers from various school levels, parent advisory group representatives, an at-large member and someone from the Town. They will start by reading and rating resumes and later conducting screening interviews to narrow the field of candidates to three or four.
An online survey will be open to the entire community inviting everyone to weigh in on what they want in a superintendent. Paper versions of the survey will also be available at strategic locations for those who prefer to participate that way.
Other outreach/listening techniques may be used, too, but were not specified at this early meeting. Eventually there may be visits from candidates with public components for folks to hear from the candidates and perhaps have questions and answers.
The Collins Group members emphasized that Sudbury is launching the search ahead of many other districts who are also in the market for a superintendent. They spoke repeatedly about the process being forward looking and their plan to rely on a consistent set of questions for eliciting community opinions. The first among those will be: What do you celebrate about SPS? and What are SPS’s challenges?
My hat is off to the School Committee for starting an open, inclusive process. Selection of a superintendent is such a consequential responsibility of our School Committee members. I’m hopeful that the community will respond supportively by stepping up to participate in the work shoulder to shoulder with them.