001I call the May 28th, 2026 special meeting of the MiddleBar School Committee to order. As a reminder, tonight's meeting is being recorded and will be broadcasted at a later time and we are not live streaming tonight. Please stand if able for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. As during the past meetings to remove the threeminut rule which is current policy the committee will enact our other policy to pause this threeminut rule policy for tonight's meeting. Can I have a motion to suspend the threeminut rule for tonight's meeting? >> So moved. >> Second. All in favor? >> I >> uh vote passes unanimously. All
002right, we will open the floor for public comment. >> Hi, uh Sarah Crawford on center a uh good evening. My name is Sarah and I'm here today as a resident employee of this town and a graduate of Middle Public Schools. I work at one of the elementary schools and I have many concerns about the state of the school district. This is my radio. I use it every day, all day, listening and responding as needed as it is the main form of communication for our school. It is currently being held together by duct tape, a popsicle stick, and some cute giraffe stickers and St. Patrick's Day tape on the sides. Um, I feel like it is a good metaphor for how things are going in the district. There are a lot of broken pieces and it
003is being held together by the educators. Currently, the central office on school street is basically empty. We have an interimm superintendent who is doing the best he can uh and doing two jobs. Our director of curriculum is nowhere to be found after a vote of no confidence. And our director of special education left in the fall of 2025. And now the interim director of special education is also leaving. The people who have been the most steady this entire time are the principles, the teachers, the paraprofessionals, cafeteria staff, custodians, and service providers, the tape or the glue keeping everything mainly together. And we are the ones who bear the brunt of it, the ones that are currently under a budget cut. But what happens eventually when there is no support, no structure, it starts to fall
004apart. And that is where we are now. Eventually, the glue starts to disintegrate from the pieces it is trying to hold together. Staff right now are feeling the effects of lack of upper administration. Morale is shaky at best. The duct tape no longer works and masking tape is attempting to take up the slack. Ask an educator. Masking tape has a short lifespan. There's a lack of communication within the district between schools, staff, school committee, all of us. I carry a form of communication with me every day. all day, but it is clearly broken, barely being held together by duct tape, which we know usually fixes everything and is the last line of defense. This duct tape, which I put on at the beginning of this year, is starting to disintegrate. This is not the best
005option for our staff and more importantly for our students. Things need to be fixed before all the tape lets go. We need to find out our administration that will be steady, sturdy, and the best quality for our district and for the kids. I acknowledge that there is a short and long-term plan, and I know it's happening tonight uh when it comes to finding a new superintendent. Is there a plan to fill the other key administrative positions? Because there are many upper level administrative positions vacant at this time, it definitely does not put the district in a positive light. How can we fix this? On a side note, we do actually need updated radios to replace some of the old ones that are as old as I am. Thank you. >> Thank you, Sarah. >> All
006right. Um, tonight's agenda focuses on the review of the community survey, reviewing the applications for the interim superintendent position, and we will narrow down the list of nine applicants that we received for the position. And to our finalists that we will discuss tonight, we'll vote on how many and who will move forward to our June 3rd, next Wednesday, special meeting where we will interview them and vote. And then um our final job for tonight will be to compile or discuss our interview questions that we'll ask our finalists next week. All right. Um so Sean, if you want to come up. So I want to thank Sean Costello, field director for Massachusetts Association for School Committees for being with us tonight and helping us with this process. So, our first order of business is to review
007the community survey that was put out on Parent Square. Um, that survey was sent out to parents and staff and it stated different priority areas and qualities that the community is looking for in our interim superintendent. So, there were 270 responses to the survey. The survey ranked 10 different priority areas for the respondents to uh rank in the order of importance to them. And if you it's in the Google Drive um if you go on the agenda, you can click on it and see the full report. We just don't have the screen for us to show it. But um the survey breaks down the ratings per priority area by each subgroup. It really kind of gets data specific, which is really cool. Um I really do suggest that if you haven't read the document, you
008really go through and um tease it out and read it. Um the subgroups were broken down by parent, by staff, and by staff who was also a parent. So it breaks it into the three. The top five rated priorities by an average of those three subgroups together. Um, priorities by the total community were school safety and climate, communication and transparency, leadership, staff support and morale, budget and resource priorities, and stability and transition management. So, those are the top five areas that the community had put out as priority um qualities or areas that they're looking for in a interim superintendent. Any repeat them? Sure. So it was school safety and climate, communication and transparency, leadership, staff support and morale. Budget and resource priorities and stability and transition management. So, those were the key highlights coming out
009of the community survey um going into our discussions um that we'll take into consideration as we are talking about um the next interim superintendent. The leadership team also provided some of their key um qualities that they are also looking for in a next interim superintendent. Um and that would be somebody that is a seasoned professional with strong superintendent experience. someone who possesses the skills, judgment and presence necessary to create a sense of stability across the district during a transitional period. So again seeing that theme of stability again needed in the district. Um, also strong leadership and managerial skills to bring staff together around focused goals, support teams in achieving their goals and strengthen a culture of accountability, demonstrate expertise and experience in leading curriculum development and demonstrate strong communication skills that effectively support and connect
010all aspects of the district community. So those are qualities that our leadership team had put together that they're also looking for in an interim superintendent. So with all of that, passing it over to members of the committee if there are areas that or aspects that you're also looking for in a superintendent that are interim superintendent that are sticking out to you that you're you want to highlight as we go into looking into applicants. Not the applicants themselves, just qualities in a person. So, some of the things I talked about when I was running for a candidate, having only spent time in the private sector, um I do have a wife that's also an educator in a different district. Um, what's really important to me is having good leadership, right? You need a strong leader. I've
011been there when it's you have strong leaders and when you have weak leaders. And when the strong leaders there, the communication's there, everybody respects each other. Kind of to Sarah's point is that when you don't have that glue holding people together, it really starts unraveling and then the morale just dissipates. Um, I've also been there when we've had weak leaders and people just don't respond to that. and you you kind of have what you basically uh pointed out, it's a struggle and and coming to work every single day is really tough. Um so I've experienced both ways multiple times and it's it's tough and so for me a strong leader and even though we're talking about just an interimm um superintendent uh tonight and it it still has to be that bridge to when we
012do hire a full-time superintendent. So I think they still have to possess the same qualities. Um, for me it's obviously a budgeting thing. Obviously, the critical thing we just went through and and um voting on the balance budget um was a tough one this year and obviously unfortunately some teachers are going to be let go and um I'd like to see them their fiscal responsibility too has to be very strong. It's just it it's just really a tough time altogether and I know you guys have been without leadership for an entire year which is difficult. I've talked to some of the principles and and you know, their biggest comment was they can run the buildings and they they have great staff and they they believe in all the teachers and the staff that's there, but
013where's that strategy that's going to tie everybody together? Because otherwise you just have a bunch of schools running by themselves and kind of where's that piece that kind of ties everything together? Um so, you know, for me again that strong leadership and then that fiscal responsibility are the two things that stick out to me. Don't get me wrong, I know other people have different things they're concerned about. Um, obviously the curriculum is another huge thing. We're talking about spending money on that, too. So, um, not to take away from those, but myself personally, that's kind of what I'm looking for. Sorry. >> I know. For me, um, I would like to see someone who's visible and who's present and wants to be involved, wants to get to know the community, the teachers, the students, you
014know, um, who's open to conversation, is accessible, you know, I think if they're present, truly present, then they're going to understand the needs of this district and be able to be the most effective. So for me that's that's important. So I agree uh the fiscal responsibility, the leadership. I also think a strong HR presence. There's going to be a lot of hiring and also the morale through the district as we've heard needs to be managed. I think being able to kind of put people at at ease and uh create some I guess harmony between all the different levels that we have. I also think it's important that whoever we have has the I mean it's tough for an interimm but could parlay into a full-time but the the future health of Middleboro is important. uh
015just looking at it year to year I think is an important piece. >> Okay, they've kind of said it all. >> Yeah. >> Um and just one last thing for me, you know, really looking back our strategic plan or the um district's continuous improvement plan spans 2023 to 2028. So we're still right in the middle of that and really revisiting that whether as the interim potentially somebody who wants to continue or an interim who is here to bridge until some you know a full-time superintendent is here but somebody who is going back looking at that starting with that and holding back you know people accountable to that or just going back and saying where are we? Let's, you know, spot check where we are. Let's, you know, take a pulse, progress monitor. Let's start back
016with that. That's should be guiding the district. And, you know, I think having somebody checking in on that, um, and really kind of updating us as a committee and as a community as to where we are with those goals, um, is something that I would like to see. So, all right. All right. Um moving on or is there anything? No. All right, we can move on then. So we will move on to our applicants. So we, as I said, we had nine applicants for the interim position, which is amazing. Um that is a great number to have and I'm sure Sean will um talk a little bit about that. So, what I would like us to do is we've each reviewed the applicants. I'm sure we've done our own internet deep dives um as well,
017but um I'd like Sean to talk about the process a little bit. Um but I would like us to focus on we each came with our top three choices um from the nine and I'd like us to keep it on kind of that positive. these are our three choices and talk positively about all of the candidates as opposed to a why not focus um in respect for the fact that they're all actively searching for positions and I just don't think that we should you know be talking ne negatively about any Google deep dives that we've you know done on people um so I think you know looking at it in light of you know who we want versus who we don't want. Um, and we can talk more about that, but Sean, if you want
018to steal the mic. >> Sure. Thank you very much. So, first of all, I want to um recognize the fact that all of the attributes that you all just came up with are really important, outstanding uh attributes to be looking for. And I I want to give you all credit for that. Um, if you put all of that together, what you just said, you're going to have a really darn good superintendent. So, if that's what you're focusing on, looking for your interim, then you are absolutely on the right track. You're doing well by your community and you're doing well by your staff, um, who clearly need um, in these times of of turbulence, needs somebody who can steady the ship. And that's the real benefit of having an interim superintendent. Last time I was with
019the committee, first of all, the committee looked a lot different than it does now. Um, I look forward to working with each and every one of you and continuing to work with you, Chris, um, as well as Sue and Shannon. Um, but we didn't get to talk too too much about an interim versus a full position. Hiring an interim um is a really interesting process because it's kind of up to you to define. You as the school committee have the authority to hire an interim. You could hire somebody tonight. Um, don't, but you could. Um, you have laid out a really good process here. Um, and I think the fact that you have nine really good applicants says a lot about Middbor and the fact that yes, you're going through tough times, but at the
020same time, there's so much potential to move this district forward and these folks all want to be a part of it. Um, we see other searches that don't get nearly that level of applications for an interim search, especially when it's open for only a week. Um, when Sue and I spoke about uh the decision that this committee made to to open the applications for a week, which was my recommendation, we thought that would yield you maybe five applicants. And the fact that you got nine in the span of 7 days is a really good thing. And looking at all of the applicants, it's a very good pool of applicants. That should get you thinking, should get the juices flowing. Um, and I absolutely love looking at the qualifications that these folks bring and hearing their
021interviews. Um, because it shows you where your district could be headed. Um, I will say that there are definitely a couple different types of applicants that you have and it should be noted for you and this is not to sway you one way or another. It's just for your edification that when a uh retired superintendent applies for a superintendency. With that comes, if the district chooses to hire them, an application with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for uh what's called a critical shortage waiver. So, that person would be granted a one-year waiver if you choose a retired superintendent. Um, and essentially what that waiver says is that this person is far and away the best choice that you could make. Um, and that there was a critical shortage of strong applicants. Um, so
022that's an important thing to note just for your conversation. The other important piece to note is that um, what I thought was really interesting is that you had um, not every application you had was from the state of Massachusetts. Obviously, it goes without saying that superintendencies in Massachusetts are different than superintendencies everywhere else. Sometimes that can be a good thing. Sometimes it's not. Um, it's up to you to decide whether or not you believe it is. So, I wanted to make sure I noted those two things for you, but especially the critical shortage waiver just so you don't make a hire and then you're surprised by the fact that you need this. Um, if you feel that way about these candidates and you feel that a retired superintendent uh on this list is certainly the
023the far and away the most qualified and that's who you'd like to pursue, um, just please know that you will be going through that process. And just because you apply for it does not mean Desi will grant it. Uh, and also if there's any interest in having that person potentially come back and be your full-time superintendent, that will not be a possibility um, in all likelihood because Desi very very very rarely grants a critical wage waiver two years in a row. So Chris, you look like you had a question. >> Yeah, in a pool of nine, how likely is that going to be granted? >> I can't speak to that. >> Okay. I think I know. >> I can't I can't speculate. All right. >> Y >> but you do I mean you have nine
024outstanding applicants really each applicant looking through the applications each one of them brings something unique and different to the table. So but you are in the part of the process right now that is often the most uh difficult in that you have really strong choices. Um and obviously you can go in one direction with a retired individual or you can go in another direction with somebody who's not retired. Obviously this does not require a waiver. does. Um, and again, waiverss happen. It is not unusual for a retired superintendent to be hired in a district. Um, I think that this meeting itself will yield a lot of good information for the community as to not just what you're looking for, but to what some of these candidates can bring to the table. I think you will
025see that some candidates have certain things on paper that they can explain a heck of a lot better in person. And so I would encourage you to continue to think um not just who checks every single box, but who checks certain boxes so strongly that I want to hear from them. So I'm looking forward to hearing who you liked out of your applicants. Um again, would not say and could not say a bad word about any of your applicants. you have really a really good pool of candidates here. Um I would just say that uh look to what you had discussed to see what you want to hear more about. So that being said, if anybody else has any questions on the process, I think you've done a fantastic job, especially being such a new
026committee um at attracting good candidates and are doing a really good job throughout this process to this point. And at this time next week, you will be pretty close to having your new interim superintendent. Did you have a question? >> I do. Um I know it was recommended to pick three. >> Yes. >> Is that still the recommendation only because like you said, like we're going to bring them in, we're going to talk to them. Yep. >> And anybody for me could look good on paper, but I do want to have that conversation because it may not present as it does on paper. Yep. >> Um and again, some of these people may be applying elsewhere. some of these candidates maybe um they decide they suddenly don't want it for whatever reason. So I'm just
027a little hesitant to only pick three. So my question is like is four sustainable or is that still too much in your experience? >> I have se So in most districts that I work with now this is not speaking for an interim superintendency. It's speaking to a full. So take that for what it's worth. Just a little grain of salt. But in most districts that I work with they select three finalists. Three typically tends to be a good number. I will not tell you not to choose four. If you really like four, I would tell you to interview four. Um, just know that each interview will be about an hour to an hour and 10 minutes long. And that's if you do the the work of narrowing it down to 10 questions, right? If you
028have 10 questions plus an opening and closing, you're easily looking at an hour. So, please keep in mind um and and and that gets to a point where are we just bringing this person in just because um and it's it's I mean they're so far and away not as qualified as the other three that we're bringing in because then it turns into uh something that could be construed as unfair to your fourth candidate after you've been sitting there for so many hours and you're like just waiting for it to be over. Plus, then you have deliberation afterwards and you have to vote. Um, so do whatever you want is my answer. I will be with if your meeting takes eight hours next week, I'll be at your meeting for eight hours with you. It's totally
029good. Um, but my recommendation is always to look for three. And if you very strongly feel that you want to interview four, great. You can interview four. You could interview nine. Don't, but you could. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? I'm sorry. And that is by the way a very good question. >> Okay. So I think what we'll do is we'll kind of leave the three or four open for now just to see kind of talk about who our top ones are and then we can narrow from there. Can I can I just very quickly if you wouldn't mind my recommendation on how to do that exactly what you just said would be instead of moving candidates forward by just a consensus of saying hey who okay so let's all vote for this candidate
030this candidate and this candidate it would be move candidates forward individually based on a majority consensus so you know if if somebody would like to nominate or make a motion to I'd like to interview this candidate that candidate could then there's a second that candidate could then be moved forward to the interview process with a majority vote and that's how you can choose whether or not you have three. If you have four that meet the majority of the committee saying yes, then you have four. >> Does that make sense? >> That's my recommendation. You do it however you want, but that would be my recommendation. >> So I guess >> how but having people be able to talk a little bit about or just have >> Oh yeah, I mean absolutely. >> Oh, okay. Yep.
031Absolutely. >> And then at the end now Yeah. I just to kind of answer the question >> at the end. Okay, perfect. >> I was like, "Oh, that's going a little faster than I thought." >> Oh, no. You absolutely want to talk about >> your top candidates. >> I was like, um, all right, perfect. So, I'm going to just start. Sue, as we know, is not here, but she did send cuz she couldn't not, you know, not participate. We love her. Um but so she did send um just some thoughts and who she would recommend. So I am going to read a statement from her just to start and then um we'll get going from there. So dear fellow school committee members, first I want you to know how sorry I am that I am
032not at the meeting to deliberate with you and choose the finalists for the interim superintendent. Thank you to Kim for serving as chair in my place. After reading the results of the community survey and hearing the input from the leadership team, I believe I need to focus our attention on the following areas to choose finalists. One, create a sense of stability and healing throughout the district. I believe we need to choose someone who has experience who has extensive superintendent experience in Massachusetts. It will be difficult to bring stability if the individual has not had experience overseeing all areas of school of a school system. Obviously, we need to delve in and find the person who is able to lead by bringing people together to create goals support scheme support schemes scheming those goals. Wow. Sorry.
033And holding them accountable, but that will happen during the interviews. Two, we need someone who has experience implementing a curriculum. This is one of our biggest endeavors for next year. The interim will need to actively lead and support the curriculum coordinators and principles. Again, there are other areas we need to explore, i.e. communication, school committee relationship, working with Mike on the budget, etc., but that will be sused out during interviews. Given the above, I recommend Tracy Curley and David Thompson as finalists. Thank you for listening, Sue. So, that is Sue's input for the process, right? >> I just had another question. I saw that there um were references listed for each applicant. Do you call them, Sean? >> I would perform reference checks if you asked me to. Yes, typically it it is done by
034maybe the chair or a designate of the committee and they put together a report for the rest of the committee, but it is not highly unusual for me to be asked to do that. >> Okay. >> All right. Um, so I'm not sure if somebody wants to start off our process with if you have your three that you want to start off with and just kind of go from from there if you want to either just say who they are or talk about why. >> Um, yeah, I don't really know how this works. I I there was one applicant that I did have my mind on. Um I'm going to botch his name. Eric Chu Chafi. >> Yep. Chopi. >> What is it? >> Chroy. I chop or chop. Yeah. Chop. >> Chop. It is
035Chroy. So I don't know if if we want to how you want to do this. Um personally, I like that he had a strong HR background. I think that brings stability. It brings like kind of like an unbiased view of everything in my opinion. Mhm. >> I like that he has experience. Um, he was a principal. Looks like he kind of like rose his way up through the ranks. So, there was like multiple things that I did like about him. Um, so that would be I would say my top I don't know. I don't know how this works. I don't know if you want me to continue on or if you want to just if we all want to talk about that candidate if anybody else wants to. >> Yeah, he's on in my top
036three. Um, he doesn't have superintendent. He's an assistant, >> right? Um, but he does have the HR piece and I feel like there is a lot kind of in in our leadership determining roles and descriptions of who does what. So, I think he would be good at that. Um, I did uh I know one of his references who's knows Middleboro and uh has experience and he'd be a good fit. It's and it's someone I I trust their word. Um and I do prefer an interim that could be long-term. So I I think that's important. um especially uh some of his characteristics seem to be putting not necessarily dominating from top down but working with people to succeed in the positions that they're in which I think we really need. So >> thank you for saying
037>> I I would I would second him. >> Okay. >> I also agree with that. I liked everything that they said about him. Also, I like the fact that he hasn't been a superintendent yet and maybe um if he likes this district and he does a good job, then maybe he's somebody that we could move forward with. You know, I also like that one of his references is knows this district very well and is willing to speak up for him. Um obviously they've probably discussed what we need here. Um and he thought that he would be good for us. So, I mean, he's definitely in my top three >> for me. He just made it outside the top three. He was my number four pick. Um, and the only reason why was because of just
038his lack of experience not being a superintendent. I like a lot of the qualifications. Everything you guys said is definitely somebody you want to talk to. Um, but I kind of go back to what I said earlier is really looking for somebody who's going to come in with that stability piece. Um, he potentially could be somebody that you look at as a full-term um, superintendent, but just for me, that's the part that I'm just a little leerary about. I'd want to see somebody with that experience who's already cut their teeth at some level um, as a superintendent. And and for me, that's that's the only reason why he fell inside my top three. But I did like a lot of his qualifications though. And you know, and for me, the other ones that I'll talk
039about after, I was looking for somebody local that really understands kind of how this community works. You know, they're they're on the south coast, Southshore, whatever you want to call it, and they really understand they know what Middle is probably about. And and so for me, that's important um that they do understand kind of what we're going through. Great. >> Great. I just want to uh sorry don't want to argue with you Sean but um so for stability um one of the things that a lot of uh staff reached out they were it was kind of split the interim and the the full term. So I think in interim with the possibility of potential going forward would bring a little more stability than if if we just pick an interimm who's, you know, here for
04026 27 and then we're back here doing all this again. So, >> all right. >> I also agreed with Sue on um David Thompson. He um I watched one of his interviews at another district and I just found him to be very personable and genuine. um just kind of looking over his stuff and what I found online. He just seemed like somebody who is present. Um he's won awards like he's kind of been through it. So he's he also is one of my top three. I thought he looked really good. Go ahead. >> He was also in my top three uh for most of the same things that Leah and Sue said. Uh he seems like he would be someone who's here from Middleboro and I think that's really important. Great. >> So, I fall
041in the same category as what I said about the other um candidate. Here's my concern with it, too, right? It's not that they're not doing a good job. The references are probably checked out. They live local to us. They probably know what that is. My only concern is right now is that you could possibly put somebody and it could be a full-time candidate eventually who's never been a superintendent before. You don't know how they're going to act under pressure. We don't have that validation yet. That's my biggest concern. I've seen leaders go through and they're they're the next golden child and they race them through and next thing you know they hit a plateau and that's it and they stick them in a corner never to be heard from again. Um, so I'm not saying
042that that these two people wouldn't be very good superintendents. I I just don't have a track record yet. Um, and for, you know, their body of work, it looks good to me. But for me personally, I I just need that experience right now that and if I was probably on this staff somewhere in the school district, that's what I'd be looking for. Just me personally. >> Are you referencing Dave Thompson? >> Yes. But yeah. and and you you're aware that he's a superintendent. >> Dave spent seven years as superintendent Norwood. >> Oh, just as interim superintendent. >> Yeah, he's the interim superintendent right now in Wilington. Yes. Okay. >> He lives in Norton and I can just say he has given me permission to say um that he has pulled himself he had pulled himself
043out of consideration for the interim superintendent for the full superintendency in Wilmington um because it was like a two plus hour commute each way for him and it was just not sustainable. Absolutely. >> If that makes any difference, but yes, he's the interim superintendent there, but prior to that, he had um eight years in total experience. >> No, thank you for that correction. I appreciate it. No problem. That's what I'm here for. >> Kim, I just want to say he was one of my top three also. Dave, um Thompson, I want to put a P in there, but there's no >> Thompson. There is no >> Thank you. >> Perfect. All right. And I haven't chimed in, but Eric and David were both in my top three, too. So, we're batting like a thousand right
044now, which is pretty good. >> All right. Um, Sean, do you want to give one of your top? >> Yeah. So, I agree with Sue. Um, it would be Tracy Curley would be my top candidate. um did some research on her. I the part I do like is that she managed a large district. So I think and then obviously looking at her resume coming through the ranks a lot of stability with Fall River obviously probably not an easy district. You know cities aren't I think when we were going through the MASC we talked about Worester a lot. >> Yes. >> So the numbers are just staggering. Like I just my head was ready to explode. So I think somebody like that has really gone through the battles. Um, and I think again she's somebody who's
045local. She's over in Kingston, >> very close to us. Um, and so again, probably a strong leader from what I'm reading. So that's somebody I'd want to at least talk to and kind of get to know that person and really kind of dive in a little bit further to kind of see what they're about. >> Anybody else have feedback or have Tracy in their top three? >> She was not on my top three. >> Okay. She wasn't on mine either. >> Okay. >> Not yet. I did have her in mine. Um so I'll just put a tally for that. Who else? Kristen, who else did you have? >> Um it's a little more untraditional. Um but I had David Cutler. Um you know, he's been a teacher. He's kind of It had his thing right
046here. Um principal. Um, I I really like that he was a Navy veteran. Um, I I believe that that has great leadership skills um in itself. I mean, granted, we don't know we don't know Dave yet. Um, but for me, um, he just he he has a lot of experience, a lot of stability, I believe, from um, you know, what he wrote. So, for me, he was he was in my top three. That's probably not the greatest uh articulation of what I felt about him, but >> Okay, cover the point. >> Just fine. >> Thank you. >> He's kind of my top three, too. Um, in my reasoning, like people described him as, um, he did well with school improvement planning, uh, the curriculum implementation, student client, I mean, student climate and culture, and he
047was big on safety, bullying, you know, cyber security, stuff like that. I like that. Um, so he was one of my top three also. >> He's also in my top three. Um he has the experience but also what jumped out to me was his uh he was the direct director of operational systems and the support budget development fiscal oversight which dealt with a lot of identifying efficiencies, controlling costs, uh especially when it comes to things like transportation, special education. um those seem to be the parts of our budget that are just skyrocketing out of our control. So, I think someone who has that knack or creativity to to be able to control that is someone we should at least talk to. >> Okay. All right. Uh we hit all of your three. >> All of
048your three. >> Yeah. >> Who else was in your top three, Sean? >> Uh just me. Um the only other person was uh Susan. Is it Kuska? >> Kuska. Yeah. >> Yeah. And again for a lot of the things that I talked about earlier, you know, she talks about fiscal oversight, budget development, and just kind of her track record. Um coming through the systems, different school systems, but eventually working her way up um and just showing it, you know, looks like she's been successful. Um, again, somebody else I probably want to talk to. Um, just from again reading her resume. >> Sorry. Could when you say the the applicant's name that you're talking about, could you just say it like directly into the mic louder because it's really hard to hear back here with the
049AC and like we can hear how like what you're saying when you discuss it, but the names sometime come so quick, especially we don't have a list in front of us to like say, "Oh, that's who they're talking about." It's kind of hard for us to kind of follow. So, yeah. >> All right. Uh, Chris, did you did we miss any in your top three? >> No. >> We got there's any other like to discuss? >> Yeah. Is there anybody else that we haven't talked about that you'd want to talk about? >> No. Okay. So the majority of the applicant voting or kind of top threes. So Eric >> Eric Chffy >> Chaffy I really didn't want to >> Coffee. >> Yes. I have to remember that. Yes. Eric Chaffy, Tracy Curley, David Cutler, and
050David Thompson. Um, Eric and David Thompson both were in four um, top threes and Tracy and David Cutler were in three top threes. So at this point it would be a matter of is it close that close that we do the four or are we do we want to talk more about narrowing down to do three. What >> it's it's totally up to you guys. I saw a couple of you nodding over there but it's up to you. And then I see you going for the mic too. So whatever you guys want to do. I just wanted to kind of explain if you couldn't hear. So, Eric Choffy was one of the first ones we talked about with the HR experience um with a reference from Middleboro. David Thompson has the interim and full superintendent
051experience. Um and then Tracy, I think, was the one. Tracy Curley is the uh was the superintendent in Fall River and David Cutler, >> he was kind of the last one we talked about, >> was was the veteran. >> Yeah. >> Uh Bellingham, I believe. >> Mhm. Yep. So, put it out to the committee your thoughts on the three or the four. Are we really wanting to hear? Go ahead. I'm down with four. I mean, why not why not hear what they all have to say? >> What time are we starting next week? >> 6:30, right? >> That was my next question. Well, I just I go to bed at like 8. So, >> can I make a recommendation? Is if you're doing four, I would move that meeting up. >> I would not start
052that at 6:30. If you're doing four, I would start at 5:00, >> okay? >> Or 5:30. >> And your recommendation is that we narrow it down to 10 questions. >> I would do 10 questions per candidate. You have to ask them all the same questions. >> So, okay. Are So de definitely um Eric and David Thompson they were for sure. So between Tracy and David Cutler they each had three. >> Okay. Go ahead. >> I only think we need three finalists, but I'm only one of seven. >> You're one of five right now. >> Well, one of five. So, if we're going to narrow it down to three, >> um, >> can I just say what my reservation is about? >> Yeah. >> One of them. >> Sure. >> I know we weren't going to
053be negative, but um, >> as long as we frame it in a way. >> Okay. For me, um, if we were going to stick to three, I would not like to interview Tracy only because there's some controversy and I feel like Middleboro has had enough controversy. So, I don't know that I want to and I know there's two sides to every story. You can't really read what happened because I tried to research it and I can't find information. So, but you know, if we're going to narrow it down and have to make a choice, that would be my reason to not go with her. >> Okay. >> So, just to read, I I kind of feel the same way. Um I I'm not opposed to interviewing Tracy, but she wasn't in my top three for
054for the same reasons. >> Yeah, that's fine. So, why don't we go to a motion and a vote on each of them to all four and then we'll vote on who we're bringing and we'll do it that way. All right. So, can I have a motion to invite Eric Chofy for an interview on June 3rd for the interim superintendent position? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Um, all in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Okay. Passes unanimous. U just for uh the record, can we raise our hands in case the the sound is off? >> Sure. Do you need me to redo it? >> Okay. All right. Um next, can I have a motion to invite Tracy Curley for an interview on June 3rd for the interim superintendent position? So moved. >> Can I
055have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Can we have a discussion? >> Oh, yes. >> So, she's not in my top three, but I value the opinion of my colleagues. Um, I'm willing to do a fourth if if you feel strongly. Do you both feel she's worth bringing in strongly? Yeah, I read a lot of stuff you guys read too, right? And again, we don't know what's what. That will probably play out at some point in time. I'm looking at this. We're not saying we have to hire her. But when that's staring you in the face, you It's like you have to talk to this person. That's just me personally. It's it's it's hard to read stuff online and see what's going on and really not understanding it. And again, we don't
056have to hire this person, but to not interview them, I don't know. That's a tough one for me. Not to even just see what they're about. >> And I think she comes with curriculum experience that and leadership that the district could benefit from if she was to get hired. And I I did do some research. I spoke to some people that we'll just leave it at that. Um but I think if you Sean, Sue all feel strongly enough as a committee, we should at least entertain. So um I'll vote. Yay. >> Okay. >> Or hand up. >> All in favor? >> I >> Any opposed? >> Do you mind two seconds? >> Yep. Can I compliment you all on that? That was really well done. That's that's a nice way of finding a group consensus
057to bring somebody in for information. Um that sometimes with school committees you don't see. So just you know because I know the camera's here and I know all these folks are here and I just want to say that that was really well done and I give you all the credit in the world for coming to that decision. So good job. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next is David Cutler. Um, could I have a motion to bring David Cutler to our June 3rd meeting to interview for the interim superintendent position? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Passes unanimous. And our last one, David Thompson. Can I have a motion to invite David Thompson to the June 3rd special meeting to interview for the interim superintendent position? >> So
058moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Passes unanimous. So we will have four interviews on June 3rd. We will figure out the time for the start of that meeting as it might be earlier than 6:30. >> I would encourage you to figure that out today because I need to call your candidates and schedule them for their time slot. >> Okay. We will need to figure that out. >> 5:30 extra hour for >> I would extra hour. >> Yep. >> Yeah. I think five's a little too early for me. I'll be coming from Southboro. I don't know what time I'm yet. I'm starting a new job next week, so it's congratulations. >> Very exciting. >> All right. >> It's 5:30. >> Um, >> so I'll schedule your first interview for 5:40. >>
059Okay. >> Give you guys 10 minutes at the start of the meeting. >> It's very likely that that person will be here before that time. So, if you want to start earlier, you can. But we'll do 5:40 to 6:40, 6:40 to 7:40, 7:40 to 8:40, 8:40 to 9:40, and then you'll deliberate. You'll hopefully be out of here by 10:30. >> Okay. >> Midnight. >> Got to put in the work. >> We'll bring snacks. >> Yeah. >> And coffee. >> Yeah. >> And coffee. >> But with that time frame, right, it becomes even more important that you callull your questions and that your question and that's the next process. And if you want, Kim, I can speak to an efficient way to do the questions, right? So, everybody received the document guide from MASC. Excellent. Um,
060and hopefully you went through that. You can ask, you can put forward whatever you want. Obviously, your question doesn't have to come from that guide, but that's years and years of experience of the organization coming up with what questions should be in there, and we edit it pretty frequently. Um, I think the best way to move forward and and the greatest enemy of the public is like group editing, right? So, we'd be sitting here and and and we could easily spend four hours making sure that we're using the right word in this place and that well, we really want to include this word and should there be a comma there? Um, or what you can do is essentially, and this would fulfill having the questions developed in public, right? you could explain um the questions
061that you came up with and then you could designate your esteemed vice chair um to put that list together um with the final list of questions for you next week. So that would just be my advice to you. That being said, if you choose to group edit, I will sit here until the bitter end. >> All right. Can I >> just ask one question? Yeah, >> it might have been said said at the beginning. Uh, is next week's meeting an open meeting or is it next week? >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Yes. So, well, I don't know. We will interview publicly. We'll deliberate publicly and we'll vote publicly. We would encourage the public to come though at something like this because of the open meeting law requirements with questions and decisions that have been made
062by the attorney general as to the fact that the same questions must be asked of each candidate and those questions have to be developed in public as you're doing tonight. That would not be a scenario where the public could ask questions to the candidates. >> Can I ask just a quick question about um I'm just circling back to that reference check. Can I request that you not that when you put somebody down as a reference, they're obviously going to have positive things to say about you, but I personally would like to hear what their references are specifically speaking about to them. So, can I request that? >> I'm happy to do it. You are also, as a member of this committee, totally allowed to call the references. You said >> we are. Okay. I just
063I didn't know that. >> The reason we say that you should designate somebody is because there's seven of you. >> Sure. And we don't want these people to be bombarded with seven phone calls with the span of a week to talk about somebody >> doesn't mean it can't happen. It's however you decide to do it. We just recommend having somebody designated to do it. Whether it's me or a member of your committee to put together a report. If you feel strongly about doing it yourself, you can. Even if you're not the designate, you are absolutely able to do that. >> Thank you for clarifying that. Okay. >> All right. And just um so that the public knows for next week's meeting on June 3rd. Again, it will be a recorded and post. So if you
064are wanting to see it in real time, please come to the Nicholls Middle School media room starting at 5:30. All right. So, in terms of questions, so as Sean said, we're really not going to get into words smmithing anything, but really wanting to stick to about two questions for each of us. Um, Sue sent her questions. Um, Shannon sent her questions and, um, so really just kind of what is your topic and general gist of what your question is just so that way we're not duplicating. So, if Kristen has a curriculum question and a budget question, and Chris has a curriculum question and a budget question, just making sure they're not the same type of curriculum and budget question. Um, so I always end up starting with Kristen, I feel like, cuz she's like right
065across from me. So, we'll start with Chris this time. Uh, so the three that stuck out to me are uh on page 10, MTN1, MTN2. >> I don't know if we do we need to read them out loud. >> It's totally up to you if you'd like to. >> And then uh the next one would be budget BF7 on page 14. I can read them. Just I guess >> I'd look to your chair for what she would like that. >> I don't have that with me. So, can you just give me like an idea of what it says? >> That part. Just read it. >> Sure. >> Sorry. >> Okay. So, uh, meeting the needs of all students is MTN 1 and two. Given the financial limitations at hand, >> what types of creative ideas
066might you suggest to meet educational needs of students not being met within the regular budget and program? >> Great. >> I like that one because it's not beholden to any one demographic of student. I mean there are students who are performing at high levels who need special education who need all sorts of stuff that would fit into that. And then uh given our special education designation MTN2 hits that special education is a particular challenge because of the complexity of rules, service needs and student and parent concerns. when you assess the effectiveness of your special education programs, what are some criteria you use? >> Nice. >> And then the budget question, let's see, it's on page 14. Uh given the total financial health of the town, the citizens of our community demand value for their tax
067dollars and transparency and fiscal accountability. In this slide, tell us about how you have ensured that the budget you propose and the financial plan that you oversee as approved by the school committee is as compact and efficient as possible. That may be better if we're going to look at someone long term. But those are the three questions that kind of jumped off me based on what we've been facing. >> Perfect. Thanks, Sean. So, the budget question is exactly the one I was going to pick. So, that's right at my top of my list. The other one has to do with leadership. I know it's not a surprise to anybody after hearing me tonight. Um, but it's on page three L6. Um, just talks about describing your leadership philosophy, how you would build leadership capacity at
068the district and school levels in our district. I think the only thing I'd like to craft a little bit more, make sure the communities in there and how they expect to commun with communicate with the communities, you know, what's their leadership style. Um, and obviously the importance is, you know, their direct staff and obviously the teachers that report up to that direct staff and kind of how they their leadership style works and and kind of how they communicate through the different levels. >> Perfect. Thanks, Leah. I didn't have budget because I knew Sean would. So for me, um, just based on the survey and what the staff said, like they wanted a strong leader, um, that would pay attention and listen to what people had to say. Um, so for me, one of the questions
069was a leadership question. Um, how they believe the staff should play into decision-m and how they would involve the staff in decision-m. Um, and it kind of talks to who they are as a person, too. And then um just as a parent, I picked a question out of the personal attributes because I just wanted to hear how a candidate would handle um being in a tough situation, delivering unpleasant news or being in like a controversial situation, how would they handle that? How would they talk to people? How would they address it? Look at all angles. Um so just in how they would explain why they feel the way that they feel and kind of justify their their stance. >> So, I I essentially had the same question as Chris. Um, mine was just I think
070you picked out like MTM1 and I think mine was like MTM2 where it just mine hyperfocused on special education. Um, but it was almost the same verbiage. So, I would just go with Chris's question because it does include um all students. Um, and it does kind of pertain to the budget of how we can really just make the how would we make the need fit for everybody. Um, and then my second question, it was kind of similar to Leah's. It was just kind of like um how have you how would you establish rapports with parents and teachers um as a leader? How would you um you know establish rapport with like you know district stakeholders? um parents, families, etc. So, kind of the same. I would say they're they're similar to those two. So, I
071don't think we need to ask that question twice. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, we can combine some of some of the like ones together. Um Sue sent hers. Um and she has one that is related to um embarking on the implementation of a new ELA curriculum and talking about experience leading curriculum development and the mo most important factors of adopting a new curriculum. She also has one that's related to um HR and working having experience working with a central office and principles um and a district that doesn't have a HR director per se. Um and then also Middleboro is a growing community in both numbers and diversity. A leader in this district will need to consider and implement strategies and structures that provide equal access of education to all students and champion the vibrant community
072it creates. Can you give examples of your leadership in this endeavor in your previous superintendent roles? So we can look at those. And then um my questions had to do with um stakeholder voice and how they communicate uh with the community and how again it forget who's um it was but when oh Leah's that push back and how you um essentially if you're you know in a situation where you're getting that um you know issue of communication breakdown you know how how do you work through that um in the changing K to2 landscape with AI and cell phone use and educator burnout you know how are you changing your ed your personal educational philosophy um with today's classroom realities um and then stabilizing leadership during the transition so And then Shannon's um are you aware
073of the financial situation of our district of that our district is currently facing and how would you describe our situation? How responsible should the school the school be to community pressure on curriculum and have you developed a school improvement plan and what's the staff role in community in curriculum development? So I think we have a good variety of questions. Um so if you guys want to if you made your own send it to me. Um if not I wrote down the letters. Um, so I'll put them all together. I'll send them out for you guys to check, make sure that they I got them right, and then we'll be ready um for next week. >> Yeah. All right. Okay. Um, so that brings us through the agenda. I think we're good. All right. Is there
074anything else from the committee for tonight? >> No. >> Well done. >> All right. >> Oh, I got something. Sorry. Uh, my contact at Mass Hire reached out today. Um, and this is off topic, but uh, she left the Middleboro High Credit. and she could not stop talking about how well organized and how energetic the kids were at it. So, um I know the bar is coming kind of down to the end for the seniors, but shout out to everything they're doing over there. >> Yay. That's awesome. I love hearing great things. >> Nice. >> All right. So, I think we did pretty well. Just over an hour for all of that. >> I think kudos to us, right? Really important stuff. effectively done. All right. So, with nothing else tonight, I will entertain a
075motion to adjurnn. >> So, move a second. >> All right. With a motion to adjurnn and a second, all in favor? >> I All right. Any opposed? It's unanimous. Thank you so much. Good night, everyone. All right.