School Committee Meeting Jan. 6, 2020
The first School Committee meeting of 2020 took place Monday evening, January 6. Because the City Council inauguration had to be postponed until Thursday evening, the newly-elected members of the School Committee (Jim Fleming, Mary Manning, and Kristin Pangallo) were sworn in by Mayor Driscoll 10 mins before the meeting started so that the School Committee could conduct its business.
Student School Committee Representative Report
Jillian Flynn reported that the Student Advisory Committee is actively reaching out to students to encourage more members. All students in the district grades 9 through 12 are welcome to join. The Student Advisory Committee meets the first and third Wednesday of every month from 5 to 7pm. The group meets in different places to make the meeting accessible to all high school students – Salem High School, New Liberty, and Salem Prep. Many meetings are held at Collins Middle School.
On January 25, the Student Advisory Committee is holding a retreat from 9am to 3pm focusing on leadership, running effective meetings and related topics. They can be found on social media @SalemSAC
The SAC and the school council are concerned about the state of the bathrooms at the high school and are preparing a presentation for the Buildings and Grounds subcommittee.
Salem High School students are presenting Sister Act on Jan 17 and 18 at 7:30pm and Jan 19 at 2:30pm. Come out and support this student production!
Superintendent Search - Collins Center Report
Applications. Representatives from the Collins Center said that the Superintendent search has yielded a large number of strong candidates. A total of 31 candidates have applied, and include people with diverse experience, including veteran superintendents from inside and outside Massachusetts, veteran central office directors (such as chief academic officers, assistant superintendents), and principals. Some are rising superintendents, in an acting position now or just out of higher education. Four are nontraditional candidates: two professors from higher education institutions and two education consultants.
Screening applicants. The screening subcommittee meets in closed session Thursday Jan. 9 to discuss the screening process and the resumes. A week later, the group will discuss the candidates in detail and decide who will come in for an initial interview.
The Superintendent profile is developed from focus groups and an online survey of the Salem community – teachers and staff, students, administrators, parents, and community members – and this profile is meant to guide the search committee as they review the candidates and conduct initial interviews.
The questions posed to the focus groups and in the on-line survey asked about experience and attributes desired in the next superintendent; the big issues the next superintendent will need to deal with in the first year, and what is great about the Salem schools that should be preserved.
A total of 235 people weighed in, 64 in focus groups and 171 in the on-line survey. Just over half were parents and 20 percent were students. The remaining 30 percent were administrators, faculty and staff, and community members. The consultant noted that people responding to the focus groups and survey wanted to be heard. Thus, the profile does not fully reflect the entire community's ideas.
The most important superintendent characteristics, in the view of most respondents:
A strong and effective communicator who is approachable and transparent
A person of high integrity, with strong core values; courageous
Able to collaborate and build a district culture of trust and strong relationships
Able to create a clear vision for education and have experience in creating a district strategy of improvement
Able to demonstrate a strong background of valuing teachers and improving teaching and learning, including being an advocate for educational innovation in the classroom
Able to be visible and demonstrate an ability to actively engage families and the community
The consultant then counseled the School Committee to pay attention to these attributes, but remember that the Superintendent will also need to respond to changes over time. The next Superintendent needs to be able to learn about new challenges and adapt. He also recommended they look for a candidate who can communicate a vision for the district.
He then said, to the School Committee and the public, that all have a role in the success of the next Superintendent. The Superintendent has a collaborative role with school committee. Teachers and leaders need to embrace change. Parents need to identify problems, but take the perspective: what are we going to do about it? For the district to move forward, all need to engage and work together.
Timing and process. Ms. Campbell asked about the timing of the hiring process and competition for the pool of candidates, given the number of districts in the state that are searching for Superintendents. The consultant said he does not think the candidates who have applied are likely to be snapped up before Salem makes a decision. They will keep an eye on that, and let the search committee know if any candidates are facing time pressure. The first round of superintendent candidate interviews is scheduled for the last week of January. Finalists will come to the district for a day, including a community forum, in the week of February 10. A decision on the Superintendent is expected by about February 24.
Ms. Nuncio asked why so few respondents cited bilingual skills as most or very important when so many respondents also emphasized the importance of family and community engagement. There wasn’t a clear answer.
Mr. Fleming asked whether focus groups called for classroom experience as an important attribute of the next superintendent. The consultant said that classroom experience was specifically listed as one of several possible attributes in the online survey, and 80 percent responded that it was desirable or important. Focus groups were not prompted on this attribute, and it was mentioned by a few people, but not at a high level.
Involvement of the School Committee in screening applicants. Mr. Fleming asked when the members of the School Committee who are not on the screening committee will receive the resumes of all applicants. The consultant said they are unable to distribute the resumes beyond the screening committee. The Open Meetings Law requires that if four or more School Committee members receive the materials, everything has to be made public. In this early stage of the process, many candidates want their application to be confidential unless it moves forward to a more serious level. School Committee members of the screening committee include Mayor Driscoll, Mary Manning, and Manny Cruz.
As a side note, Open Meetings Laws are developed by states, and there is more than one way to approach this particular issue. For example, New Jersey’s open meetings law allows the full School Board to discuss employment matters in executive session. This means that all School Board members can participate in screening Superintendent resumes and conducting initial and follow-up interviews with Superintendent candidates in executive session. The School Board can determine what parts of the Superintendent search and hiring process will be conducted with members of the school community, and at what point in the process. Since one of the key responsibilities of a School Board or Committee is to hire and supervise the Superintendent, involving the full membership in all parts of this process seems useful. As the consultant noted, in the early stages of the process, confidentiality is critical for Superintendent candidates, so the compromises required to maintain confidentiality when the open meetings law does not protect discussions about employment matters can challenge the ability of the full School Committee to identify and coalesce around a strong Superintendent candidate.
A motion to approve the superintendent profile was approved by all.
Superintendent's Report
ACCESS Testing at the High School. Dr. Samantha Meier spoke about her recommendation to conduct ACCESS testing for English Learners on two mornings in January (January 14 and 15) and open school three hours later for all other students. ACCESS is a 3-hour assessment of English language speaking, listening, reading and writing skills. The test yields a score that reflects the student’s English proficiency level, the gains made from one year to the next, and allows the school to place students appropriately for instruction. One high school student in nine takes the assessment each year, so a substantial number of students are involved in testing.
The alternative is to pull individual students from classes throughout the month of January to conduct the testing, an approach they have taken in past years (last school year was the first time they focused testing on two days with late entry for other students). Concentrating the testing makes a more serious commitment to student participation and performance on the assessment (as is done for the MCAS) and avoids missed instructional time. In addition, most high school teachers will be involved with administering the assessment, which helps them to better understand the assessment and students’ English language skills.
An Assistant Principal at Salem High School is resigning as of Jan 17. Meier said they will try to hire internally. She said the high school has a deep pool of teacher leaders; any of them would be a good fit.
The Superintendent said she has identified an Executive Assistant to replace Angelica Alayon as School Committee Secretary. The position will be noticed and voted on at the next School Committee meeting, and she will begin work full time in early February. She has experience in this role, and will provide support to the School Committee, including the work of the many subcommittees. In addition, the Superintendent has hired a Chief of Public Relations. Dr. Smith is excited about the work she will do to develop a system for communications across the district.
The Superintendent said that Bates principal Munoz met with the interim principal at the Bentley school to provide mentoring and support in his role. This approach to principal professional development is similar to teacher collaboration, and like teacher collaboration, it could be a good model to develop new principals and strengthen the skills of more experienced principals. The challenge is taking one or more principals out of their building during this collaboration. The Superintendent and Principal Munoz ensured that Mr. Munoz was at the Bates school at the beginning and end of the school day, and that leadership was in place while Mr. Munoz was away from the school.
Principal Searches. The Superintendent reported that two principal searches are going on now, for the Bentley School and Salem High School. A consultant has started the search at the Bentley school, which needs a principal who can manage a school likely to have an innovation model as well as the growing dual language program. An 11-member screening committee will meet January 7. A dozen applications have come in, and they are still accepting applications. They expect to send two to four finalist candidates to Dr. Smith for final interviews in early February. The high school principal search is at an earlier stage. The job notice will be posted by January 15, and the district team is working to engage an outside consultant to manage the process. They expect to conclude the process with an appointment by the end of March. Of course, severe weather could interrupt the process and delay the schedule a bit.
The Superintendent noted that the Kindergarten Showcase is scheduled for January 14.
The Superintendent revisited her earlier discussion about closing schools on March 3, the day of the Presidential primary elections. Several parents raised concerns when schools were open for local elections in November. The Superintendent’s preference is to close schools on an election day, but this requires advance planning when building the school year calendar or better-than-average winter weather. Neither of these options are available, as the calendar was set last winter and the district has already had about 4 weather-related closings. The Superintendent now plans to keep school open on March 3, but talk to Chief of Police Mary Butler about strengthening security at schools used as polling places. Some School Committee members questioned this decision, and all agreed to revisit the possibility of closing on March 3, but making the decision by the next School Committee meeting.
Action Items
A member of the public asked Mr. Fleming for personal use of Salem High School’s automotive facilities. The School Committee referred the request to the Buildings and Grounds subcommittee.
The Policy Subcommittee recommended revisions to several policies. The modifications were approved on second reading.
Subcommittee Reports: None
School Committee Concerns and Resolutions: None
Public Comment
Tom Furey reiterated his request that the School Committee name the stage at Salem High School after Cindy Napierkowski. Responding to questions some have raised that it might be awkward to name a stage in a room already named for someone else, he said he had goosebumps this evening walking past the Mary Manning Learning Center in the Francis X. Collins Middle School. Responding to questions others have raised that Ms. Napierkowski is still working in the high school, he said she has created a vibrant and strong music program and is like Christa McAuliffe, the first woman astronaut. We should recognize her now, we shouldn’t wait for her to resign or retire or die.