001very good um good morning everyone uh I'd like to call uh this meeting to order a school committee meeting January 6 2023. uh our first item on the agenda is to approve our agenda which is a simple agenda which is a deliberation and vote on the position of the superintendent does anyone have any changes or deletions um to make to that by hearing none we'll we'll move on I'd like to welcome everyone to today's meeting our school committee members and our viewing audience um thank you all for for making the time to get together for this important meeting today I'd like to make a few comments about our work today first I'd like to thank our superintendent finalists candidates who will will be discussing today Dr Peter Cushing Miss Nan Murphy and Dr Peter Burroughs
002for expressing their interest in becoming the next superintendent of Milton Public Schools we've enjoyed meeting them all and getting to know about their backgrounds their wealth of experience and their Visions for what they might bring to us as a leader of Milton Public Schools it's been an exciting time for all of us to think about the future of our schools with the new leader the goal of our discussion of the finalists today finalist candidates is to arrive at an initial consensus about one person who has the support of a majority of school committee members once we feel that we've arrived at a consensus we'll make a motion and take a vote for the appointment of a new superintendent subject to the successful negotiations of a contract I believe that it will be best for our
003schools and our town if we can arrive at a unanimous vote however as chair I declare that the appointment of the superintendent will require a minimum of a simple majority of four affirmative votes cast for any candidate which is the typical simple majority that we use in in all of our other matters as school committee here in Milton well there will be no opportunity for public comment during our deliberations today we thank you all for taking part in this important work we've had a number of opportunities for Community input into our superintendent search process many people attended our focus groups and responded to our survey about our District's leadership needs we had 11 people who volunteered to serve on the screening committee who screened 19 applicants and recommended our finalist candidates to us many people
004attended our candidate receptions at our schools earlier this week and many watched our interviews on Wednesday finally we encourage the Milton Public Schools Community to email us to express their opinions and share their advice I'd like to thank everyone who took part in this important effort yesterday and this morning we received many thoughtful emails that reflected serious and heartfelt consideration by those who took the time to write and reinforced for us what an important decision this is for our entire community this morning we'll take turns discussing our thoughts for as long as it takes us to arrive at consensus I'll do my best to recognize each school committee member who wants to share their thoughts giving preference to members who have not yet spoken and will just keep going around for as long as we
005feel it's necessary to arrive at a consensus and we'll try let's try to use the raise hand function and zoom and we'll see how that works and if that seems to not be working we'll make a change um it's a little easier in person for this type of thing after our vote I will either I I will uh mute my uh microphone and turn off the camera on on my computer and we'll call the appointed finalist to see if they will accept our offer and begin negotiations immediately following our vote we will adjourn to Executive session to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with non-union Personnel pursuant to chapter 30A section 21 A2 um and finally before we begin the discussion about our next superintendent I'd like to caution you all about the nature
006of the comments about the candidates each of our candidates have subjected themselves to the challenge of becoming a public figure during this process once we announced our finalist candidates on December 21st 2022 the rest of our search process must be in public everything that we say is a matter of public record praise for the candidates and criticism of them become available for anyone to access even our well-intended and well-intended remarks may be repeated reported and even taken out of context whenever a future employer considers one of our candidates in the future for those reasons please use your best judgment and discretion in explaining your preferences and telling the public why you support a particular individual and or why you are not supporting others negative comments may represent your opinion and which are your right to
007present can attach to candidates as fact and damage their reputations so I'd like to make a motion to that we proceed to the discussion related to the superintendency an appointment of a superintendent of schools I have a second thank you we'll do a roll call vote uh member of our kids [Music] memorize Danny yes Dr Carol yes Dr Miranda yes member White yes and terrible is Marion yes so I declare the matter is appropriately before the school committee and let's begin our discussion so I see member White's hand up that would be great thank you um first of all I want to thank all my school committee members fellow School commitments for all of their work during these last period of time and specifically Ada thank you so much for your leadership your coordination and
008your communication during this time you've really made us all very proud um so you know I've been thinking 24 7 about all of our uh finalists their interviews their recommendations going over all of the references and um you know I I think we have three very strong very capable candidates and all of them could lead our system um well but I kept coming back to um one particular candidate that I think has the current experience that would serve our district best during this time for our district I mean with the pandemic still around and with all the issues that our students and our faculty have faced um I just think that we really could use um a leader who is um really strategic intelligent experienced who has willing to make a long-term commitment to our
009town and to our community and to our district so I think that I and feeling strongly that the candidacy of Dr Burrows is the best fit for our district at this time and when I was reviewing his um all his materials and particularly rereading the references that were given for him um they talk about that he is a um they talk about his leadership abilities of rethinking and reshaping educational experiencing creating access for all students the a vision of success with transparency Clarity and Direction he they talk about his valuing student voice and building strategic plans which is so important for us and I really feel like um several of the comments talked about him being a transformational systems thinker the real deal kind of leader listening to all stakeholders visible accessible in the buildings
010he doesn't just sit in his office he really um build relationships with folks so I I think that based on all of those qualities and characteristics that he possesses and his dedication to deib um I think he would be my choice and the best fit for our system and I really maybe it's a little sentimental of me but I really liked that he was interested in Milton I mean he chose to apply here he wants to come he hasn't applied to other places and I I like that sort of focus on Milton and that was something that you know I kind of maybe it's again sentimental of me but I kind of really like that that he really wanted to come to us and and I sort of thinking that he would be the best
011fit for us right now so those are my thoughts thank you remember white uh member of our gays thank you Ada um I want to first of all thank all of you um the amount of time and hours and time away from your families that you have put um towards this the last two months like kind of feels like a blur a little bit but I know a lot of hours and a lot of work and a lot of reading and a lot of researching has gone into it so I commend all of you and I'm very proud to be part of this team um I am very proud to have been on the original screening committee the you know and even last night I was reading the references and how thoughtfully you put those
012together remember Ross Danny and member Dr Miranda and member white is just amazing it was like really does feel like we landed on three very strong candidates and I am so proud that I was like wow I can't believe you know we are in this position where we can you know it's like we can go it like we are in a really good spot and I I feel very happy about that and I'm very thankful to all of you um chair rosemarin I am so um appreciative of your dedication to this for keeping us you know on target every single time I know where to look I mean you were phenomenal and I really really appreciate your leadership through this process and I'm very grateful um I also am very grateful to the community I
013am you know um having having been in this role my first year I have learned something that um was really inspiring through this process which is how much our community cares you know we all care and there might be disagreements we might you know not always agree on things but at the end of the day we are a very caring community and I am very grateful to be part of this community um so I appreciate all of that and you know um through this process um you know I had the opportunity as I said I went through the initial screening committee an opportunity to meet with all three candidates who made it to our finalists I had the opportunity to meet them at this meet and greets which was also really informative for me because
014you know we can you know people can say whatever they want but when you when you see them and how they interact with with the community with parents answer the questions and what they say in their mannerisms and Body Language this so much goes into that and I am I've always been a listener I've always been an observer it's what I do um in my day job I'm always looking at things from different Vantage points so I like to place myself in different shoes and see how is this going to work right so I appreciated how thoughtful everybody was you know in terms of how they responded to the community how they answered questions how they interacted um all of those things really really went into my decision today and it also makes it really
015hard because I thought everybody did a phenomenal job um and then you know in the final interview was also great because that was kind of the the second to last piece of the puzzle which is how how did they do like how would they work with this committee right here so that was also really helpful for me um and then of course the last piece of that would be to hear what my other school committee members feel um so with that I have kind of narrowed it down to two people I have a very hard time um you know picking one person because I thought these two people were equally great they brought different things to the table and the other big part that I took into consideration was the focus groups that I listened
016in on and also the survey results I thought it was really important to hear from the community I also read all the emails that were coming in and um you know including the ones that came in late last night and this morning so it was very very helpful to kind of help me get to this point and the two finalists based on what I think Milton needs um from everything that I've heard everything that the feedback we've received would be Dr Burrows and Miss Nan Murphy and I thought um both of them did a phenomenal job and I'm going to go into a little bit no particular order but um in terms of what I really liked about each candidate um I met Miss Murphy um in the original interview I was really really Blown
017Away by her commitment to academic rigor and achievement for all students you know she looked at data in a way that was you know the high Achievers aren't growing equally as the ones that are in you know really need the push then we are doing something wrong so really looking at data and actually doing something about it I thought that was really brilliant I also loved how she um the work that she did in Lowell transforming that school within one year with no resources you know I also loved her commitment to special education um and building a school in Lowell and you know bringing the students back into the district I thought that was um really really impressive her ability to communicate was phenomenal I felt like I was instead of taking notes I was
018listening and I really loved that the way she captivated the audience um so and just just again you know her leadership style is very different than Dr Burroughs but then getting back to Dr Burrows um I thought he was I was really loved his Dei statement I um I loved you know when you look at it it is it's a tough topic to write about and it's like how do you take something that's so you know like how do you take it and really just make it sound so inspiring and I really really admired that about him I loved his lived experiences in other countries um which I thought really brought this different point of view um you know him working with the tribal community in India I mean you know it's it's not easy
019so I love how he had that background coming in bringing um the IB Program into into his current District which was phenomenal I know none of these things are easy to do so I appreciate he has a very different leadership style and I thought that was very valuable too so this idea of trying to find Common Ground was great and I think both coming back to it I think both of these um finalists really brings something that Milton needs which is you know we talk about having our strategic plan and as a school Committee Member I find a lot of value in our strategic plan but when I you know and I go and sit in the audience with the other parents I might say hey these Concepts seem a little abstract how are we
020going to get there and I feel like both of these leaders in their different styles of leadership can get us there you know so I really appreciate both of that and I'm going to stop there but I would love to hear from my other committee members how they feel thanks foreign Dr Carroll thank you um and thank you very much member white and a member of our geese for your comments um I I want to start by just echoing what you said in particular to thank you chair Rosemary for your leadership through this process and all of you on my school committee colleagues um I uh as time intensive and um challenging as has been I I do really appreciate how we have worked as a team um and I share the sense of Pride
021and appreciation for for that um I am gonna look at some notes um so please pardon that um I I I'm very tired I couldn't sleep last night because I was thinking about this um so I'm gonna rely on what I've set out to say um but the main thing at the outset for me um which Echoes what we've already heard is that um a bottom line for me coming into this discussion is that I do feel at peace and I feel confident um because I agree that we have attracted a um a really exceptional group of three High Caliber finalists and I want to say that I I feel optimistic for the future of Knowlton Public Schools no matter what we decide this morning um whatever happens our next superintendent will be an experienced
022instructional leader who sees the diversity of Milton as a strength and who gets that it will only be through delivering on Equity inclusion and social emotional learning that we will achieve through academic Excellence for all students which is what we need to do and that's why we're all here obviously um it's true that all three of the finalists each have very different strengths and they have different growth areas and so I think that's why it's been interesting to see um like a range of feedback quite honestly from a lot of different people that I really respect have arrived at different conclusions about who they feel would be the best fit for Milton and I think that just speaks to the High Caliber of our candidates but also the fact that they're all different and as
023you were just seeing a member of our geese they would lead in different ways but hopefully get us to the place that we need to go um I want to also Echo I'm deeply grateful to so many community members who took a lot of time to watch the interviews and share a thoughtful detailed feedback about how they perceived the candidates it was really helpful to me to read through so many sets of analysis where especially the many of you who went sort of through all three to share how you perceived them their strengths their growth areas and I really sincerely appreciated that so thank you for participating in our process and making it stronger through that um before I talk about a particular candidate I want to just also say that I'm confident um and
024I look forward to us rallying behind whomever gets selected both as a school committee and as a community I wanted to just share a quick quote from one of the emails we received that really resonated with me a Community member wrote to us quote whomever you pick I ask that this committee afford them the opportunity to make necessary changes that the district needs even if it may not align with any personal agendas end quote and I would add to that I hope the community in addition to this committee um you know affords the the next superintendent that um kind of Goodwill and Grace to allow them to comment um with their leadership and you know have a strong start in Milton so I'm really looking forward to that whatever happens all right so enough with
025all that um I'm gonna speak for a minute about Nan Murphy in particular um I found her to be the clearest communicator um and I really appreciated the way she articulated that it's the district's responsibility and it's on the superintendent to ensure that the community understands what we're doing why we're doing it and how we're doing it that was really compelling to me the way she laid that out that includes the commitment to diversity Equity inclusion and belonging work that is embedded in how she approaches her leadership um so I just wanted to highlight that that came across strongly to me secondly I felt that she's the strongest instructional leader in a couple of key areas for Milton she really understands early literacy which I think is top of mind for many of us right
026now especially in the context of Unfinished learning um she also as you mentioned member of our geese has a background in specialty in special education her experience as a turnaround principle in Lowell is really impressive to me the fact that she took a level three school to level one in four years that result speaks for itself and that could only happen through the strength of her leadership as a principal of that school she was elevated within the District of Lowell several times based on the strength of the success of her leadership and that included then elevating her to the Statewide opportunity to bring her strengths beyond the District of Lowell so I was impressed by that trajectory um she hasn't been a superintendent yet but um I strongly believe that where she will be a
027superintendent soon and wherever she ends up being a superintendent will really benefit from many of these strengths um that would be I think really relevant to our context in Milton and her leadership in that Urban context to me is really valuable um I should also say I was compelled by her like for why Milton was really focused on our strategic plan and she describes the pillars of our strategic plan as the combination of who she is as an educator um I I really felt that was important um and so for all of those reasons um I I think I was in the end when I add everything up really excited by the possibilities of Nan Murphy as our next superintendent uh but as I close my initial comments here I'll reiterate that I found a
028lot in our other two candidates to be excited about as well um in particular with Dr Burrows I understand that a number of our Milton Public Schools uh leadership team were compelled by his candidacy and I really respect that point of view and preference and perspective um I also understand that many people are compelled by the fact that he is the only sitting superintendent in our candidate finalist pool and that does mean something um it definitely means a lot um I I just also think that there are some unique aspects to miss Murphy's leadership in terms of the setting and the context of her success as a leader so far that um in my mind you know present um unique strengths so I'll stop there thank you Dr Carol uh remember us Denny good morning
029everyone and I don't want a Believer the points about thanking people but I know that most of the public acknowledges that arriving at this place today took a Herculean effort by both the community and the school committee and I thank you all because I came in um in the second phase of the screening and was appreciative appreciative of the effort that it took to get the finalists that we have and I want to Echo what all of my colleagues have shared that we're in a fortunate position to be able to choose from several very highly qualified candidates that can meet our needs a very difficult decision because we had to weigh strengths in the growth areas of each of these candidates and they're both they're all coming from very different places in their work but
030it was really important to me to align what their strengths are with where I believe Milton is going and the accomplishments that we've made in the past several years ideally we'd have a candidate that can meet us where we are we have a new strategic plan we have an energized leadership team with people who are working under one goal now which is to achieve our strategic plan and to address the unfinished learning that our students have um but we have external needs also we have to have people who know how to navigate change but also navigating change in a very highly political environment um for those of us who came from the private sector change management is difficult if you don't know what your um how to go about doing that work but when you
031add the um the side of public education that has public scrutiny and being able to execute on at scale and work in a community for a prolonged period of time and earning the trust of a community in order to make accomplishments um for people who have not worked long in education you should know it's extremely difficult I've worked with school districts all around the country that have attempted to do many change management initiatives and most people don't reach the success that they have prescribed because they haven't been able to get the buying of the community they have not moved the community with them they didn't understand the value of communication and marketing and actually just knowing how to do your job well is is an instructional leader um you will find in research that there
032are many many ways to turn around to school and there are people who've done it and have done it more than once but there are very few people that move districts at scale it's a very rare achievement um and which leads me to the attributes that were important to me When selecting a candidate um there are two candidates that I recommend um the first one um I was pleased to say that I think that Dr Peter Burroughs has demonstrated at scale his ability to work in a community while conducting his reference checks I learned that he worked in two districts on opposite sides of the country but had consistent behaviors and consistent results he has exceptional change management skills and his ability to understand how to work with various stakeholder groups ensuring that they have
033a voice at the table and still getting them to move as an entire Community is something that um very few people much less candidates can can say that they've been able to accomplish he was able to convince several school boards because in his initial arrival in Vermont each one of his schools and a group of elementary schools were all different districts and the state had initiated a plan to consolidate those districts and based on his references his district was the first to vote to consolidate he also decided to um after going through a cycle of inquiry after a whole District strategic plan had been implemented he met with the stakeholders in his community and basically articulated that for you to achieve the goals that you want to accomplish I think the international Baccalaureate program would
034be ideal and for those who are unfamiliar with the program it's an exceptional program that's been implemented in only a handful of places and when students it's it's um it's more rigorous than advanced placement it's K-12 and they have very specific theories on what children should be able to know and do by the time they graduate and they have a very rigorous onboarding process and a very rigorous process for students to graduate with an IB certificate to make a long story short and to convince an entire community that that is the right thing when many districts struggle to implement in one school his reference is talked about how he engaged various stakeholder groups and took his time to make sure that everyone understood what they were buying into and was convinced of the value before
035they went to a vote and when I think about our fiscal needs whether it's with our operational override or override for our school buildings having someone who can get stakeholders on board and is demonstrated on more than one occasion their capacity to do that is a very as I said it's a very rare skill in Milton would be um the better for having someone that can do that I also want to talk about Peter Cushing and how genuine inauthentic he was in his interview and the fact that he is also working at scale in a district that's bigger than Milton um he was able to articulate one of the kernels that stand in the way of progress in terms of Dei work he talked about the fact that it's it's it's not a political end
036it's an ethical issue and what someone would want for their own child sorry did I hear someone um what someone would want for their own student they should want for all students and he articulated the fact that he recognizes he has an agency to enter into these conversations more so than others have and being able to even recognize that that is a challenge and that it's something that needs to be overcome by working with a community shows that he realizes just saying that you're capable of doing it doesn't mean that you've actually achieved the results at scale um he also talked about creating several models for supporting principles and aspiring leaders and and recognizing that in many cases it's very easy in a district to talk about operations and not the difficult conversations about instruction
037um for those who may not work in education operations usually has a very finite instructional practice that you're following but when you're talking about instruction for students there are many research-based strategies but in most cases you will not see them in schools but being able to acknowledge that it's difficult and still have those conversations and try to work with leaders across multiple schools not a single school is a trait and attribute That You Don't See often he also articulated The Importance of Being able to Shield staff from the noise that keeps them and distracts them from doing their work it's something that it's really hard for people to recognize that you know when we do our work you know I'm at my desk I have my colleagues I have my customers the our Educators have
038that same audience but it's very public and being able to create a space where people can work together and make progress is something that Peter Cushing mentioned that I think is valuable and last but not least he just as um Dr Burrows mentioned is the ability to communicate and being able to get people to understand what you stand for and buy into it um there are many people who are extremely articulate and saying what you should do but then what are the results once you do it and if we can't see that you've been able to accomplish results at scale what happens when you come to a Milton that has six schools a very diverse community and not necessarily the buy-in that we would have anticipated to implement many of the initiatives we think are
039important so with all that said um I appreciate the fact that all of us are coming at this from a different place and a different set of experiences but I do believe that ultimately if we picked any one of these candidates Milton would be in a wonderful position so thank you for listening thank you remember Russ Denny uh Dr Miranda would you like to sure uh and I would apologize ahead of time I'm actually not feeling well um and I also haven't slept um because this is uh I think such an important uh decision and I've gone back and forth um uh all night um and I do want to Echo uh without going into too much um the gratitude that I have for each and every single one of you um is in particular
040for those of you who served in the screening committee reviewing 19 applications isn't that easy that was a lot of work and I appreciate the dedication and the commitment that you made to make sure that the three candidates that we interviewed aligned with what we need in Milton in varying ways so I do think that this decision is hard because the options we have before us are very strong options so thank you thank you for that um I also want to thank the the community in particular those who took the time to listen to the interviews and give us your thoughts um I take those that input very seriously I think it's important to wrestle with the varying points of views and take that into account as as we arrive at a decision so thank
041you and even to that last email that came came in this morning I really appreciate that I think I must have checked my email every every couple of minutes just to make sure I wasn't missing uh some someone's feedback um I I also um you know it's it's it's I I'm sorry I'm I just lost my train of thought but I want to go back I think I I am very much very similar to um member or geese uh you know sort of I have very a strong position and two of the candidates um and for varying reasons I do think that each and every single one of them uh brings in their particular professional experience as well as their professional values um that I think resonated with with me I think Dr cushion I
042did appreciate the way that he was able to communicate and explain to us the work that he did in Worcester the work in rural settings is difficult and the way that he went by and really speaking to the work and how he handled issues of diversity not in the same way that we think about issues of diversity in an urban setting or in Milton because you know we are still a suburb very different than a fully Urban setting um he in the way that he handled that work I think um is commendable um because there was a lot there um and he was able to also do that change management at the at the school level which I think is hard uh turn around work is not easy and to be able to achieve that
043um it requires strategy requires the North Star in that commitment and I think we we saw that I also think he was Unapologetic in his view around the importance to hold our focus on social emotional well-being and academic Excellence together I think that I I really respected that and and uh and and really do think that that stood out for me however I do I do go back to the other two and for me um Miss Murphy um was the it's just a fantastic Communicator I do think that she was Chris she gave us very concrete examples I also did the the references for Miss Murphy and when you start hearing the same things from people you realize that there there's there's something there there's a theme in how they approach their work um servant
044leadership is what I heard it is how she described her leadership style in service of students in service of parents in service of teachers I think also there is a depth of experience in instructional leadership which as we think about the recovery right of the uh learning losses that we've had because of the pandemic because of Unfinished learning I do think that we would have in her a leader who could zero in and focus and identify exactly those areas where we need to double down in in order to get to the academic outcomes that we want for all of our students that came out very clearly and it's what I heard the other piece that I wanted to lift up in terms of Miss Murphy that I thought was very important was the fact that
045in every conversation I had I also heard that limited resources did not stop her from seeking that North Star and knowing where she wanted to go so instead of like you know saying well I guess we can't do that said all right what exactly do you need to do your job right and I I I'm gonna take it upon myself to find that and that didn't just say that but also delivered and I think that's important too right you can't just go around saying you've got to show it and then it came back with there's a grant opportunity there's this there's that and so I think that is critical right because we know that um we are we are a district that needs more resources in order to achieve the Excellence that we want in
046the social emotional well-being of our kids so um I do you know I was I was taken by that I also appreciated um her commitment to mentorship you know to really being able to think and Dr cushion spoke to this as well building that bench and really thinking about how do I look within the district to find the leaders to find even the potential leaders those folks and I think this is key it's a gift to be able to identify folks who may not think that they are leaders but you see something in them you nurture it and you bring them up and make sure that they realize their potential and I think that's important particularly in this day and time where we have so many exhausted educators we need to pump them up we
047need to make sure we build from within as well as attract I also appreciated her commitment um to our strategic plan spoke very clearly that it's there it's our plan it's our vision that she found compelling in terms of our district now let me move to Dr Barrows Dr barrows I think has an advantage Dr Barros comes to to this opportunity with 10 years of experience as a superintendent he has led change not only at the school level but at the district level and as member um excuse me I'm sorry I told you I'm tired as very as a member of Ross Denny said um you know change management particularly at a large systems level is hard I was very taken by the approach that as I was reading again his packet last night comes
048through of all the steps that went into going from where the district was in Vermont to where the district is now and the adopting of uh you know the program that he brought in the IB Program I think that it speaks volumes to me speaks volumes of um the ability to take something on and really develop the commitment and the support from stakeholders to be able to do that I think also I don't you know I think there is a commitment there um to diversity Equity inclusion and belonging as well I think there is a whole effort right now to try to uh if I read care you know if I sort of remember correctly um in terms of Vermont and trying to sort of bring that lens to all the work in the district
049right now and he's leading that I think there is a commitment there so I I share all of that to say that I see the value in all these three leaders but I am sort of after you know pouring through the emails pouring through what we've heard I am leaning towards two um candidates and that is Miss Murphy and Dr barons and um and really have gone back and forth I've looked at all the focus groups uh notes and the survey again and really trying to figure out you know what the best what's the leader that's going to get us not that we're stuck but I think we are sort of We're Not Making sort of the progress that we could make because I don't think um you know we need someone to help us
050communicate in a way that helps us realize that there's more alignment than misalignment um I think we we I think as a member of our geese said we all care and I think we want the best for our students and um in that when I think of that I do think Dr barrows would just kind of pick up and and get us there right like they're but at the same time I do wrestle and I heard Dr Carroll as she said that you know the What the how and the why that stood stayed with me and that was Miss Murphy that recognized that not everyone's gonna get on the train at the same time and sometimes you have to go back and explain and that I think is what keeps bringing me back to her
051but I think we would be well served by either one of them good thank you Dr Miranda um you know we have we have a good a good problem here we have three really good candidates um so we knew we knew this wasn't going to be easy um um and and it's so important um so um I appreciate all the that you have all shared and um uh I I agree that that all three candidates had had some wonderful strengths that got them to this point in in our process and um and we would be very fortunate uh to be led by by any any of them um I um decided when when I was sort of concluding my review going back through packages and references and um and all of the feedback and comments
052that we've gotten um this week that um to go back to our selection criteria that we posted in our original posting to kind of think about each of the candidates in relation to those selection criteria so I'm going to just try to walk you through quickly um what what I saw and a lot of it will be echoing things that have already been said but the um first was outstanding communication interpersonal and management skills including change management navigating complexity and organization finances Budget Building relationships with local government leaders and employee unions and um you know as as discussed all three have led important change in their districts the both Dr Cushing and Ms Murphy have led a change in turnaround schools which is a very impressive accomplishment and very challenging accomplishment in the face of
053limited finances and and mixed support and and and all of the the things that go into trying to bring along a school that is in need and they they they showed their their strengths in in accomplishing that um and um in terms of communication Dr Burrows really impressed me talking about the importance of the communication and and I really made me think about Milton about the importance of our communication both internally and externally and how um how he brought in a communications director we have a fabulous communications director and and perhaps just need more time for that person um to to you know just talking about the importance of sharing our message with the community and with our our internal staff and how important that is to help move the district forward um the next
054is understanding of school Finance facilities capital projects local State Legislative process processes and and command of Massachusetts curriculum education policies and laws and um Dr Burroughs has led budget work even when he didn't have a budget director he he learned a lot and and moved that forward um he is coming to us from outside of Massachusetts so there will be more of a learning curve for him to learn about Massachusetts educational law but he's already gotten resources from my Association of school superintendents and describes himself as a quick study and one of his references confirmed that and saying how he got up to speed quickly and became a voice that that people could trust to study and understand the issues and doctors Cushing and Ms Murphy develop budgets for schools their schools as principals and
055their portioned of the budgets for their current districts as assistant superintendents um instructional leadership is the next area with experience leading a variety of initiatives related to the three pillars of our strategic plan [Music] um and uh Miss Murphy um as as my colleagues have have already mentioned is is I I think just an outstanding instructional leader um and and I found that very inspiring the the mentoring and coaching and strategic planning that she has done and supporting um people moving along in their career and developing their skills I felt that she was the most concrete about that and and um she was honest specific and brave in talking about some of the challenges that she faced and and I I really appreciated that uh Dr Cushing um really impressed me about um what a
056culture Builder he is and his commitment to building culture as part of of his deib work and um and I I just felt that through and through and his strategic planning that he developed the first strategic plan for Medford and that he took a courageous approach um as um to anti-racist education into deib uh Dr Burrows um is is working with his district to revise their strategic plan to incorporate an equity lens which um is is you know a commendable that that you know showing the the um sort of Evergreen nature to strategic plans which is consistent with how uh We've operated with our strategic planning in Milton and and that you know as time goes on you need to adapt your plan to incorporate new and and new developments and and um things that
057that we need to work on um and he also talked about how um and I think all of our candidates did talk about deib and academic Excellence as not being mutually exclusive and um I I felt really good about the fact that that we were all kind of on the same page with that um and um it was it was really important I think from some of the comments that we've received yesterday Dr Burrows message seems to have resonated with folks in the community it came through with others in a way that I think we've struggled to do and I don't exactly know you know how how that worked but um it impressed me um so I think I think we really do have three very strong uh candidates and all of whom uh would
058be um wonderful in moving moving our district forward but at this time I would say that I um Express a preference for Dr Burrows um and there are a number of reasons why um you know as we've talked about that he does have the The Proven leadership uh role as a superintendent and I think that Milton needs someone with this experience at this time to inspire and Lead are very strong leadership team who have just been amazing in in keeping our district going after a number of challenging transitions at central office over the past couple of years um his um is as I mentioned the Dei and academic Excellence is not being mutually exclusive um is very consistent with our work here in Milton um his I felt that his approach to his leadership was
059more strategic While others were more tactical and and I I think both are important but I think in a superintendent having someone with that strategic view is is really important um the focus on the importance of communication both internally and externally as I mentioned I think Dr Burrows analytical systems thinker he anticipates and plans for the steps it takes from meaningful change and has shown his commitment to sticking with those processes that can take time and has shown his his commitment to those changes in his current role um and and staying with it long enough um to to actually accomplish those those changes um he has proven leadership in Vermont he's the head of the Vermont superintendent Association has provided leadership there to other superintendents and he is the co-director of the Snelling Vermont School
060leadership project where he works with the team to Mentor other superintendents across Vermont so in that regard I think he he's shown a leadership of leaders in Vermont um which is important when talking about our Dei B work I I was impressed with his referring to looking at what are the levers that we might use to make the changes the important changes that we need to make and that how he would begin with the results of the equity audit and I think that that report we've had it for a couple of years now the findings of that report and the recommendations and and we've accomplished many of those goals but I think there's still more there that we can work with and I appreciate his his looking to that as as a place to start
061um he's been described as being a grounding influence and unflappable I've heard from someone on our leadership team who felt they could go to him for advice which which is a wonderful thing for our our already very strong leadership team and he's willing to leave a fairly comfortable position in Vermont after 10 years as superintendent really doing a lot of the hard work to accomplish the changes that that um were deemed necessary there and and but that he is seeking the opportunity for more challenges and especially with diversity that that we have here in Milton um our our community responses in the last day in response to hearing um all of the um interviews um came out strongly um um for our candidates there were more who supported Dr Burrows um but they all um
062pointed at many of the features of the all the candidates that um that were already mentioned by my colleagues um and um uh and finally as member white said I you know I was impressed with the fact that he really wants to be in Milton that he's only applied here um and his understanding of how families move here because of our schools um spoke to me that as as someone who understands um what what we're what we're looking for and what what Milton is all about um so so there we are and I guess I guess the you know we need to keep working because we're we're we've got a number of different um uh um preferences in play here um and you know pass it back to anyone who feels that they they would
063like to discuss further their thoughts or after hearing everyone speak today um is there anyone would like to speak in our second round remember Vargis um thank you um so much chair Rosemary and I think this was really helpful for me to hear everybody's point of view and um on the different candidates and I think like I said mentioned earlier that was the last piece of the puzzle that I really needed to make my decision between the two finalists that I had um recommended and um I think based on hearing what everyone had to say and they were all different and it was all really helpful to me and as and I mentioned earlier I really value your feedback and input um we all have different strengths and so I appreciate how well we can
064work well with each other and as with that I do have to say like when we were all sitting at the table the other day um with Dr Burrows I really appreciated the you know the camaraderie that and I saw us like working together you know in that moment and uh that really meant lot to me you know we were chuckling there was conversation there was like it was light-heartedness there was relationship building in that 75 minutes and I thought that was huge um so I see really already see us you know in that moment we we built something and I look forward to more of that so my recommendation would be Dr Peter Burroughs okay thank you member for the keys anyone else remember White so maybe we could take like an initial vote
065right now just to see where we're at and then proceed after that if we're if we're in a tie or um we need to like rethink our our voting um yeah I'd like to to wait a little bit if we can um I I think I think we're um we're getting there um but I'd like to just um I see Dr Carol has her hand up and and let's see let's yeah let's keep talking for a little bit but thank you uh member White uh Dr Carol thanks um I guess I just want to speak up now since um having listened to the rest of you all share which I also really appreciated um it you know clearly Dr Burrows is a common denominator across um the five of you and I just would like
066to say that um you know as I mentioned at the beginning and end of my comments coming into this discussion I already was you know quite aware of the many strengths that he brings um listening to the rest of you speak I think I'm I was reminded of additional things that you know had not been top of mind for me necessarily but like in particular um chair Rosemary the recalling the way that he had he was the the the finalists who identified um the school quality review as an existing resource and road map which is a really important uh thing that that he did pick up on um among other pieces that you've all shared so I guess I just wanted um I appreciate that we're continuing the conversation but as we move toward a
067vote I just wanted to share that um I continue to you know really believe in Miss Murphy and um her future as a superintendent and at the same time I can definitely support a choice to move forward with Dr Burrows so I just wanted to put that out there since I think I was the only person who hadn't um initially spoken of him as at least one of two candidates that I was leaning towards thank you Dr Carol I appreciate your your openness and this is hard as we as we all knew um and um you know it's it's a good hard Choice um uh but but difficult nevertheless um I don't know if if um uh remember us down here or Dr Miranda want to make any further comments at this time um before
068we proceed to to a vote um you know you you both um recommended to candidates that that you saw as as having strengths and and that that you would support and I just want to give you that opportunity to reflect if you have any further comments you know I I don't think I have anything new to add I just would reiterate that I think there's something about servant leadership that speaks to me and speaks to um the ability to listen to to all voices regardless of of where they are standing um and I think we need that the other part that I did not highlight when I was speaking about Miss Murphy that I keep coming back to is the ability to tap into the community and the Assets in the community to be able
069to address issues within the school district that I think we could do more of in our town you know the specific example that keeps coming that I keep going back to is the anti-semitic uh incident and one of the things that I heard loud and clear is that she sought partnership in the local rabbi to say how do we go about handling this together I also heard of you know I need to continue to grow and learn alongside my students so I'm not just going to say let's do book clubs so young people can discuss the issues and and work through this but I'm going to join a book club too with them um and I think I do get a sense of rolling up your sleeves and just doing um and I think that's
070the part that I I think I keep going back to Miss Murphy as someone who I just I just feel like she connected more um I think you know Dr Burrows no no no question in my mind that he he has the ability to to manage change at the systems level but I keep thinking of the relational aspect of the work and how much we need that um so I think I'm still sort of leaning more towards Miss Murphy but good support um the candidacy of of Dr Burrows foreign I will say just one last thing in closing and I completely agree with Selena and I also think that in various ways all three of our candidates have either spoken to or their reference talked about their ability to connect with people and I think
071that's probably why they've even made it to this round they all have very strong um opinions about how people should be treated whether they're the stakeholders within the schools or stakeholders in the community and if all found ways to successfully engage and get and accomplish things if anything it's it's when we've been able to see a track record of 10 years of being able to do that at a systems level granted it's probably it's more number of schools but probably fewer kids that I think will make a difference for Milton and I really appreciate um Miss Murphy's ability to articulate specifically how she's been able to do it it's definitely came through in her interview okay and I also think that the other two candidates were able to demonstrate whether in their interview or through
072their references or their packets their capacity to do these things okay well very good well um and I guess uh um thinking uh remember White's suggestion let's let's um try emotion and we'll see where we stand um I'll make emotion um uh well now um that uh Dr Peter Burroughs be appointed superintendent Milton Public Schools subject to the successful negotiation of a contract of employment mutually agreeable to the candidate and the school committee and signed by both parties or their designees here a second a second thank you we'll take a roll call vote uh Dr Carroll yes member White yes member of our gays yes remember us Danny yes Dr Miranda yes and chair Rose Marin yes okay well very good that is unanimous thank you all [Music] um what I'd like to do is
073um [Music] I would just go in the other room if we were in person but well given given this remote uh situation I'm going to turn off my microphone and camera and make a phone call to make an offer and I if you all could bear with us if you'd like to turn off your um microphone and cameras that would be fine too and um when I'm ready to come back on I'll I'll turn on my mic so if you could just stay tuned um we'll be back in a moment hi everyone you could come back on member white Dr Miranda you guys there there you are fantastic uh well I spoke with Dr Burroughs and he very happily accepted our offer um and um Wanted to me to share with you all how happy
074he is um to move this along and how touched he was by the comments that that were made here today he was listening in um and um thank you thank you all uh for for our support um so um with that I will uh let me just move down on my notes Here ah make a motion to adjourn to Executive session to conduct strategy sessions and preparation for negotiations with non-union Personnel pursuant to chapter 38 section 21 A2 not to return to open session and do I have a second second thank you take a roll call vote Dr Carroll yes member White yes member of our gays yes remember us Danny yes Dr Miranda yes chair Rosemary yes and we will um not return to open session so we will be signing off from here
075and um you all should have a Google link to get on to our executive session so I will see you in executive session thank you everyone bye-bye