001she like oh Lisa this time year so I'm going to call this meeting Bo Regional School District to order it is not on the agenda but let's please stand and United States America for it stands na indivisible andice right so tonight we're just here to talk about our superintendent search we have Trac from MC tell us a little bit about next steps yeah so thank you um it's good to be with you all um so let me just preface this by saying that um everything that is on this piece of paper is for your discussion like this isn't that I've decided anything this is entirely to sort of outline um as I've been thinking about where you're at and kind of moving forward um this is what I would suggest um but all of this
002is open to your discussion so um you know please please take that in the spirit in which it is given um so as I've been um considering where you're at right now um and sort of the um the work that you've been doing over the past number of months um sort of entering the school year and then um over the past couple of months with Mr gam um what seemed to me and if I am misreading the committee please tell me because I want to make sure that that we're all on the same page on this it seemed to me um that there was a level of comfort for the committee in continuing with an interterm superintendency for next school year okay now if you were to do that what the department has said is
003that um Mr gron would be eligible to do that however um because you were in the sort of emergency situation you were in um earlier this year where you kind of just needed a superintendent yesterday um and you know we all understand that um what the department would require is that you actually do a sech now this does not have to be a full extensive like we do input sessions and uh multiple rounds of interviews and everything else um for an interm superintendency what um often happens um is that the position gets posted um get in that case if you get posted on school spring um we certainly can post it on our website as well I would come to you before then um with a an outlined a position description potential which you then
004would deliver and decide on um it would be based on kind of where you all are at in terms of governance and the district um you know your work on the things you're working on the um the feelings you have in terms of needing stability and wanting to make sure you continue um we would open the application process have it open for maybe three weeks or so um I'm happy to receive the applications that's often what happens I don't have to um we would stress that the applications would be public which isn't what happens with a full full superintendent search usually the first run is confidential um that in and of itself does tend to sort of restrict the field a bit in terms of who's willing to actually do that um also the messaging
005you'd be giving in terms of what you're looking for at that point matters as well um I would give you all the applications you would have a deliberative process depending on how many you have um you may well want to Simply call in all of the applicants and do public interviews you do interviews in public um and then actually make a decision um sometime in the late spring um about moving forward um now having spoken to the department my understanding is that if you just if Mr ganam who I as far as I know is is interested in being part of that um if he were the person that you were to select the department would be willing to Grant a waiver for you to be able to retain him for another year um but
006again this is sort of outlining based on my read of where you all are at so if that's entirely not where people are tell me that because you're also not too late to do a full search you know for a permanent replacement starting sort of immediately either so I'm going to stop there that's the top half of the page uh so I don't know how anybody else feels uh I know the idea has been floated around have we done enough to recover from last year yet is it fair for someone to come walking into a halfway three quarter however whatever you percentage you want want to sign a corrected mess let's just call it um so that that is an idea that is just one idea but has anybody questions anything you want to say
007I mean I think this is the first I've heard of it suggested so I that's caught me a little off guard I mean it's good to know the information but I honestly it's the first time I've it's been suggested so it is the first time Jess nobody's like okay I was like all right something I think we talked you know all of our previous meetings we asked Al we ask Aaron what's the status where are things looking are we cleaned up are we ready to go are we a good District yet are we are we and all the answers are you know work in progress basically and there's I mean effectively three months left of this year right so yes so one of the things that I brought up to Tracy when we've had our
008conversations is my concern for who we're going to attract to our district um you know um superintendent Costello had mentioned that we you know through the Mas we didn't have because we were kind of in flux from our previous superintendent we didn't have the best um reputation and that's concerning to me because I want to make sure whoever we get that comes in is going to want us he's GNA coming is's coming here for the right reasons and wants to stay here and you know when Al Al has come in he does not have a desire to come out of retire reement and be a full-time superintendent and he's come in and he's really writed a lot of wrongs and found a lot of things where we could be better which I truly appreciate and
009I one of my concerns that I mentioned to Tracy was we're in the middle of kind of fixing a lot of things and and what are our options because you just explained to the committee what our options are going forward so we we're at a point where we're kind of like a Crossroads where do we think is the best is the best way forward for our district to get the best applicant to come yes I mean W wion's looking for a new superintendent and they have one from 30 years so right so that was a big concern that you we're competing with them right I saw that too yeah like and I think they started their they they like announced it right around when we were but I think they already started their search I
010believe so yeah we're not doing that search but I think they're much further along yes no that's not to say you you do still have time to do a full search like I as I was mentioning to a couple of VI I was coming in I'm doing a search in mson I'm doing input sessions with them on Thursday like that that still can be done before the end of the year so I want you to feel comfortable about what you're doing I don't want you to feel rushed in in sort of either way um I um it usually I mean I will say that you know in general um interm superintendencies do tend to be a single year but also interm superintendencies are usually foreseen um a little bit more rather than sort of the
011situation that you all found yourselves in earlier this year I think Al is doing a spectacular job cleaning everything up you know like you said and I'd love to keep him for another year um just to complete his work so like not only not to be unfair to the new you know permanent superintendent but just to keep keep working on it and making everything more efficient and I guess I'm just wondering why if the department um agrees that we can keep L um why do we even have to go through the process because it's a waiver so you would be getting um Al under extended I you won't be able to explain this better than I in terms of this um but because he's retired and it's it's essentially kind of an exception in the
012mass teachers retirement system that allows a superintendent to come back um and earn a particular amount of money over the course of a retired year um and in order for them to do that they essentially need to recognize that there's some sort of a shortage so essentially what You' be doing is you'd be going to the department and saying you know we've looked given the circumstances that we're in it isn't as if we have a long list of people who aren't um needing this exception in order to take this position so actually right when um I spoke with you over the summer you were super helpful I called Tracy just so everyone knows this was when I was sharing the summer Carol gave me the resignation letter I think the next day I called masc
013and they gave me Tracy's personal cell phone number and I remember she was driving and she was like I have one person um there were some other people that kind of stepped forward but Al was definitely the best candidate or the the best fit for our district um but I looked extensively into that waiver process and we lucked out we didn't need it for uh I think it goes by calendar year and we didn't need it for like September October no it was like August September so like we were able to bring Allen and at that point it like to Tracy's point it was like crisis mode because school was starting in four weeks and Carol was like my last day is before school start so it was like crisis mode then so I looked
014into that waiver and it's like a a formula of the salary and um so if you're retired my understanding is you can't just come out of retirement because you collect a pension from the state yes and so there's no way that Al could just be like yeah I'm done I'm not retired anymore and like give here's my pension back I'm gonna go make more money like you can't do that but you have to show to the state and one of the things that you have to show is that you posted the job so I was actually freaking out in like August September I'm like do we need to post this do we need to post this but then I calculated it out and because it was only like four or five months of salary we
015didn't meet there's a threshold and his what we were paying him didn't hit the threshold of that we needed a waiver for 2024 well now we're in 2025 so we definitely need a waiver if we want to keep them I think through August I like kind of did the math out I think it and it's by hours or by salary so again you have to at least show the state to get this waiver you posted the job and if you get no if no one applies for it that's it it ends but if people apply you have to show that you've looked at their applications and then you have to show like okay well the person we have here is more qualified because X Y and Z so I did like a ton of research
016on this waiver so I think like doing that going back to this whole question of do we do an interim search or a regular search I guess in my mind to so two questions one for you Tracy number one if we do this interim search is it going to cost us more money than are we going to have to pay for an interim search and then pay Mas no okay so it's like one price we're hiring the you're G to help us fire the interim superintendency kind of advice is the sort of thing that I would be talking to you about as your field director anyway um right because you helped me we yeah we you're in the you're you're in the what are we doing next kind of position right yeah what are we
017doing next position is that's what you've got a field director for so I'd be having that conversation with you anyway um and it doesn't honestly on RN I went to my boss and said they're talking about whether they want to do it now or next year and I he Shrugged and talked about when we would be claiming it in which calendar year anyway it doesn't make any difference from the masc perspective in terms of finances either okay so it it it's a from our perspective it's really it is entirely what you all want to do and then I guess the other thing I agree I think Al's been doing a great job I'd love to keep him on for another year for stability but I feel like one misstep and I'll kind of say it
018because I was on the committee then and I was one of the people that partook in this one misstep we made was you know we had Carol was this candidate and we were told oh like she's great let's just keep her and it worked out like it really did it worked out she was what we needed at the time but I just worry about input from the community in the public and I think that is important um and so I guess my question is if we're doing this inim search can we get is there some way to have some type of input from the community and I'm not saying I I acknowledge that the community doesn't know everything and we are the final decision makers but I think it's important to acknowledge that that is
019a voice out there that we want to listen to because I don't think anyone in this room is saying we don't want to hear that voice we want to hear what they have to say so Megan maybe one way to address that we don't have a vote or anything on tonight's schedule so not making a decision tonight one way or another if you put your subcommittee together this week do something people are hearing about it right now for the first time in a lot of cases we can discuss it and you know maybe make a decision next week or yeah Jess actually brought up a great point in our subcommittee meeting about having like maybe doing the subcommittee meeting at like a time that people or doing a zoom I I feel like I know
020I hate Zoom but like I feel like when we have a zoom people can call in or doing it at a time when more people instead of doing it like 10 o'clock in the morning when nobody's available Maybe maybe doing it like we could do it at 5 o'clock or six o'clock or 7 o'clock or something like that and and have it open to the public that's a great idea and then take that feedback whoever shows up and makes comments and and take that feedback into the meeting before we vote so Tracy could you so you got the second half of your here and I know the dates on this sort of assume we're doing the first half but can you just walk us through that with dates both if we were to start now
021sure and if we were to start later um so if you were to start if you were to start for to start a permanent superintendent search now um let's see school vacation week starts Friday um so you lose a week um we could probably put a public survey out by the end of the week that something that we could do um and we would be asking the district to share that widely with staff students parents the community um I would be working then to um get into schools the week after February break um because my standard is that I want to make sure that I make a staff meeting um at every school um in order to give you that feedback also I always meet with Central Administration um in person and try to meet
022with the student council at least um obviously that depends on what the staff meeting schedule actually is and I will say that that tends to be the thing that is um kind of maybe least flexible in terms of this because calling staff meetings that are optional means that people don't come and you don't get the same kind of input so that would be the one thing that I would say is um less um kind of flexible in terms of of time time um spent assuming that that's possible um I could let's see you have the position you'd have the survey out for those two weeks um I could potentially be back with you the first week of March to approve a position description now that would also require that you all would um put together
023the district profile which is a multi-page document that we require the school committee with administrative support to fill out which talks about the um the towns it talks about the district um gives a bunch of information of that kind that becomes part of the brochure that we put together um I would then be back with you with that and also with a potential position description that were possible to schedule it um that first week of March we would then probably be posting by the second week of March um in which case we usually leave positions posted for five weeks for that so then we're running up against well we're not quite to April vacation we're probably into Holy Week um which is tricky so if the position were up for five weeks we'd be closing
024on April 11th it would be tricky to probably schedule interviews that following week for semifinalists um just because of both my own schedule and and also what I know potentially be other people's schedule it would be impossible for me I'm just going to come out be for it would be for semi-finalists it would be for a search committee that you had appointed um but I know that's not un but that's but I know having tried to schedule things that we previously you end up like losing know all um then next week then is April vacation so you'd be scheduling semi-finalists for the last week of April beginning of May um assuming that they make their decision that week you could be announcing your finalist the first week of May um if you did that then
025you would probably have the next two weeks for visits in the district and visits back out of the district and you'd be scheduling interviews um probably for the last week of May and maybe be making your decision the first week of June um the one thing that I would think would be a little tricky there is that you lose your 60-day window so many admin rators have a um they have to give a 60 days notice for resignation um you considering that you're your contract for the next superintendent would start July 1 um you would be unable to provide them that window now on the other hand I have never in my 10 years of doing this I've never run into a district that's actually made a fuss about that so um you know take
026that for what it is um but yeah that would be kind of more now that makes a couple of assumptions that means that's assuming that we can I could actually get to staff meetings and staff meetings even exist um within sort of the next couple of weeks um and that both you and I can actually meet on those days that I've um outlined um yeah and of course that we don't lose any time first s which we never can [Music] tell is great and all but when you start doing like you know visits and that sort of thing like sometimes you just have to you just have to deal so that's the yes it's doable there are probably some things that are less than than ideal but that doesn't mean it's not doable and then
027all of that same thing if we were to do an inter term and start next year it looks like we'll be starting over the summer right so I did have a a quick conversation with Mr Gan about this because that's one of those where I kind of want to have um the agreement of the the chief administrator to say that make this part part of your kind of back to school launch right so um you know you know staff comes in ahead of students um if I can grab you know a half hour during whatever that time is with them then you've got your staff input before the students even walk in the building um if I can have the same kind of thing with your opening PTO meetings like then it's sort of like
028I will also say that's something that's nice and this is not to in any way sort of disparage spring searches um it sort of is that this is now the the project we're taking on for this year one of the projects we're taking on for this year as a community is finding our next superintendent um it usually gives me a chance to um get in front of the student council without too much of a problem I mean also you know how people tend to think in terms of things right it's like back to school it's things starting it's a little bit more where people's brains are um again not to say right you're sending out a flurry of communication to families already there's a link to the survey and all the paperwork you're filling out
029please make sure you fill this out too um that then usually means that I can by mid-september be getting back in front of you with a position description um and then we're sort of into it's posted for five weeks um applications are due before Halloween um a meeting with your your semi- with your search committee and they're doing semi-finalist interviews during November which is always a surprisingly short month um they announce but for you break for Thanksgiving and then you're doing insert of the date the weeks that are remaining in December then you're doing the search you know the visiting their districts they're visiting your District you're doing interviews um and it can be I mean I've done more than one search that has sort of closed on this timeline um kind of like you
030know you've then got at least a POS the person selected before you break for winter break and then maybe you're doing contract negotiations still in January but you sort of are starting off the year and then the other thing is that it does make for a nice sort of long transition for the new superintendent and you know for your interm superintendent to do the handoff of like they're there for like most of the budget right they're there for whatever Town meetings and deliberations and um the conversation about what work is happening over the summer and all of that kind of stuff so I will say that that's one advantage of the fall searches is that if you actually do have the person on you know by January signed on then there's sort of an easy
031back and forth between the current superintendent and the incoming superintendent of you know do you want to come to this and do you want to you know be part of this and here's when we're meeting on this and um you know assuming that it is Mr G who's still there I know that he's he's been very good at that sort of thing before too so um yeah that would be what I would say that would happen on if you were to do it on the um in the fall end I'm curious so you meant so so there's how long is a typical overlap then for like a new and the old superintendent or well yeah so I mean how uh I don't know that there is a typ difficult because it entirely depends on whether
032or not you've done your search in the fall or you've done it in the spring um and I mean I think and you may have you have more experience in this than I do um I think the level of communication entirely varies and of course some of that has to do with why it is that the previous superon is leaving um but in an ideal situation um there is plenty of communication that's going back and forth I don't know if and just if I could just say a couple things so whatever you guys need to do that's what you've hired me to do as the inter superintendent for this year or for this year or next year my job is to make sure um I I do what's necessary and and that will certainly be
033part of it will be transitioning the the next superintendent I think that's a huge piece um I did that in hon wam respectfully I I've been there done that as a superintendent retired so my job is to make sure I leave this District in the better place than what I found it um and that's the work that I'm doing uh I go back to last night watching the Super Bowl and the the Philadelphia quarterback saying Excellence is only surrounded by the people that are excellent as well too and and that's sort of my role what I'm trying to do is bring some Excellence around everything that we're doing here um so that we become more of a viable candidate and district for people to apply I'd be lying to you if I didn't say to
034you that we as superintendent all talk right whether it be snow days whether it be anything right we're having conversation and like everything that's going on in the world right now we're having even more conversations but there they're they're asking questions right they they've heard some of the the the stuff that took place previously in this district and but they're also hearing that things are finally getting in place and that certainly is just not me but it's all everybody now working in the same direction I I'll I'll I'll say one last thing one of things that any good superintendent whether a veteran especially is looking for strategic plan they looking like what direction is this District going in so I can come and sort of make it my own and finalize and have a launching
035pad so don't spend another year doing a strategic plan as a new superintendent coming on what we already have it and say here it is take it and run with it instead of having to spend another year doing that so the one thing I would ask and again whatever you guys decide please don't know I'm not my feelings I've hurt right this is family conversation whatever you guys challeng me to do I'll do um but being able to get a strategic plan in place to be able to work with a new superintendent say here it is let me walk you through this let me walk you through the budget process let me walk you through the world of special education let me walk you through all of that because it really is a different District
036we have right there's a lot going on here I feel like if I got a little more time to get more things in place I think we might interest more valuable candidates and that's an important piece that Tracy walking what type of candid are you looking for you looking for someone that has some time in as a superintendent or you're looking for someone that's brand new right that's not even been a superintendent yet so those are conversations that you'll be having when they do that looking in the community like big part of Tracy's work that she's done before it's great work but you I think you'll entice a larger group of candidates right if you have more things in place and I think we're starting to get them business ERS business offic is getting in
037place get a strategic plan in place get some of other world in place I think people feel better applying and looking at this District it's a good District I said it when I first interview you guys we got work to do become a better District to become great we really do J calls all day long but we're getting there slowly so whatever you guys decide to charge me with I I please know that I I'm completely comfortable and support the the process whatever you guys need from me so I guess so it's extending his contract well his contract from August to like hypothetically January I mean that's kind of what year the whole year okay but someone like say we found someone come January then it would be transition period because I'm sure that it's
038possible they might be leaving a place they might need to transition some they are more time to talk so the new one would be a question mark to what the like we could find someone that's unemployed yeah or June there's nobody the office yes I would say it would be difficult to find someone who's going to be willing to start in January February it's just just noty off yeah probably June but when I did yeah usually July 1 is when contracts when I did that with superintendent when I retired he and we went to school visits together we started going to the town meetings together we went to school Comm meetings together went to budget meetings together so it was completely so it wasn't him alone going to those meetings by himself for the first
039time it was me making those Transitions and that would be part of the job that that I always child to do as well yeah to do so Tracy I um I actually have the the little pamphlet that we gave incoming superintendent when we hired um Mr Z and we reviewing this we actually interviewed him almost the same way like it was in the ball it says your applications are due by like September 22nd um and I remember we had a really big this is before Co so the world's a different place I remember we had like like 18 20 people that appli do you find that in the fall you get a substantial like would we would we have a good pool of applicants or are people settled at that point um so I am
040not seeing a big difference between between spring and fall in terms of numbers of applicants they're varying a little bit more in terms of districts lately um so I had the first search that I've had that had less than 10 applications this year um but most of them are still bringing in the high teams okay in terms of the number of applications and are like all the applicants licensed because I know like when we did the principal search we had like 20 applicants but like only three were actually so we only put forward applications if they're licensed or eligible for licensure so they're like qualified okay so that's good to know which is one of the perks that I liked about masc that you go through in double check and triple check which is extremely
041helpful Amry Martin in our office is great at that yes there's a lot of emails that go back and forth saying I seem to be missing not a lot but there are some yes y she checks everything make sure that they you know they checked all the boxes on the application but did they actually give us all the things they checked off yes anybody other questions for Tracy I don't have any questions I just I like the idea of a more slow deliberate picking of the next superintendent what's the point in like writing the ship to just rush now it would be very rush I agree my only concern I think Jess and I we talked about this about the community and just so I don't I think it's a great idea what Mike said
042is just have we'll have a subcommittee meeting and have be like kind of like Forum I and just see who comes and see what people have to say and if no one comes then I agree I think just kind of the timing of doing it right now is so I don't even know how you'll get to the PTO and like the staff meetings like this time of year it's crazy you're not going to do anything this week and then they come back it's mcast it's just seems very rushed so but I get it yeah and I have a different concern than you I feel like even if we had all even if this is perfect timing I feel like we are a district in flux we are write like writing the ship someone said used
043that term and I think that that was a great way to say it we there's a lot of different things like we were two rural districts that used to do a lot of Word of Mouth like oh here's oh let me just train you on the do job and there were not necessarily job descriptions and Al is coming through and he's saying oh wow we have to have a job description for this we have to have and he's I think the next person that comes in if we had one more year of an interim whether it's Al we have to interview out could be someone else someone to come in and say we have to get these things in shape so that someone walks in and says okay here's what my vision for the district
044and oh here's here's a strategic plan so it's not just their Vision it's also our district Vision that's already there um I just feel like we're we're in there's too much flux right now um You Want who's going to want to come in and feel um like it's changing and that's because of the hard work that all is doing along with the administration and the teachers are are are working hard too I just I think my concern I just keep thinking who we have work to do I totally agree with you lari I can just say one other so sorry just there's some good people that are now on board that we brought in final world Treasurer business office right accountants all of them um I I think they're do great work technology doing great
045work I think the the more time we give them to get stable in their job and secure right a new boss sort of comes in sometimes and and again I've been there done this job right so please appreciate that comes in and then they want to make some changes I think we just need to keep some stability what's going on and keep the work for not only for our school district for our staff right but also for our communities that they know this inst stability that we're getting this through getting things in place I also said to you the very first time I met you a good instructional leader should be working himself out of a job right so that's my job is to be making sure that everybody else is in play and can
046do their job well and I can just sort of walk away and and that's really I think that's what you HDE me to do yeah so what um Lisa J Jess you had something to say sorry I no I just like when I opened the item and I saw West Bon was looking and how long their superintendent was there and we're going to do the same timeline that was m not great news and um yeah so no I appreciate the work you're doing to get our district stable and um new qualified C you know people coming in for different positions and so I you know yes I appreciate the work you're doing and the stability you're bringing to our district what if we did something like this so next week school vacation right nobody's gonna
047be around can't do anything but we could do something Thursday okay Thursday the we so just hear me up of this week yeah because let's say we something Thursday the 13th yeah people who want to have a say can come have a say if they can't get to it so be it next week's February vacation the week after that we have a budget hearing can we put something at the front of the budget hearing about this we put that on the agenda so if people didn't come Thursday they can say something or a public comment we can make a decision whether we want to do option a option b then we can do our and then if we decide we want to go with option b that that still gives us time to get started
048because you know like we the rest of this week's was next week is vacation would that be something interesting y or or not what are you looking to do on the 13th it's supposed to snow oh I that's right it is but we if we did Zoom May th it's we're gonna get a yeah we might get some weather on Thursday but I feel like if you I feel like you get more people in a zoom it would have to be you want do a zoom that's the perfect way to do it if it's going to snow but you have to do it like it has to be in the manner whoever's running it it's going to have to be like everybody gets to turn to spe it can't be chaos it's like everybody has
049a turn to say their peace do you know what I'm saying that uh you're def you're talking about chaos if you're doing I mean you there's the raiseed hand function right I mean there is I how you'd have to I hate Zoom myself but I feel like you're you get more people and I I don't know I'm having a hard time articulating you're talking about doing the meeting at night though yeah the storm looks like it's ending in the afternoon they should have the roads cleared that night yeah I mean I'm fine with it I'm people might not you know Ro out of their own places you know what I mean what about so like the online public survey is there any way that we could incorporate like that now into this like or could
050we BL blast out a survey instead of actually having what what would that do what what what would you be asking asking to vote you know so I think that's the question is I mean so we you certainly could use I could certainly um create recreate the survey that we would usually put out although arguably you potentially would be doing that twice um but we could certainly um put send out the survey that we usually do for superintendent searches which does things like ask um you know what are the biggest needs in the district at this point um what is the district most need in terms of District leadership um for their next leader um and and those sorts of questions that's what I mean that's what that survey looks like um yes that's kind
051of but what you're asking for you're not asking for what do we see in our next leader you're asking for are you comfortable not going for a permanent person right now that's what you're asking yeah that survey is only good right before we're gonna be usually so yeah what what we're discussing right now is do we want to consider focusing on an interm search right now correct or you know we're not asking the community who do we want or what do we want in the next leader do you want to do an inm search or you know I I think I oh sorry L I know I just want to say this before so so when you're a little kid and you say to your parents just write a check which no one my kids
052don't even know what checks are anymore just write a check and you're like no no we I know I have the money but we we can't spend it on that I care deeply about what the public thinks and I do not want to misstep here however we have an insight into things that are going on that the public doesn't that we can't share we all of us here at this table all different backgrounds all different thoughts all different approaches know what is what we have to fix what is going on what needs to be done at the end of the day if the public comes back and says we absolutely should do a superintendent search I personally do not feel that is in the best interest of this District because I do not think we
053are going to get someone um I don't we're going to get the best person that's just my feeling um so when I when when we're asking whether we want to do an interim search or if you're going to do a survey and then we're going to vote we have to vote responsibly with our conscience and if we go against what the public wants they might take that offensively so I'm just throwing that out there as like a like we we have a birds we have a we have an inside look that they don't have and so that's why we have this that's why it seems like we all kind of feel like Al would be the good the ne good next choice the only thing that's holding us back is that we did it wrong
054the last time um we were misinformed we we made the best decision at the time and it it it was good in some ways and not so good in others and we're in this situation um I just wanted to throw that out there because so when I asked you to get together Thursday and talk about it I I kind of meant within your subcommittee talk about pros and cons of doing it this way right sell your case right rather than ask I'm just saying if we're talking about throwing out if we're talk about throwing out a survey so a survey is not to capture what you're looking for for an opportunity to explain to everyone why we think that we're prioritizing stability over a permanent superintendent right now which we don't necessarily need to do
055a subcommittee to do that we can do it's more like Outreach is what we're we're just letting everyone know and make sure that everybody understands that why not so much asking but so basically we're just going to do this again On th no it's maybe we don't maybe we do it so for me it's about giving the public and I know again I know we put it out there that we were meeting today about this and we have there's one person sitting here and I applaud you because you've been sitting here the whole time quietly um but it's putting it out there and like we've done forums a few times right we did it with masks we did it with an SRO what else do we do it for we did it for a few
056different things it would be kind of like come say your peace and if you don't show up and you don't say your piece then don't complain this is decision we're making and it would have to be you know to L's Point yeah survey right now I agree because you're getting too many cooks in the kitchen there's people that aren't are just like oh yeah whatever I don't care check the box um but I think if you have a form and somebody's actually taking the time to come out and to say hey this is why I think we should uh and I I actually think the public is gonna say we love Al can can he stay can you know what I mean but it I think it's going to give everybody and I'm saying not
057just the public the union the teachers everybody you know and it's it's just an it's just it's trying to do right by the public and saying here's your turn to have your to say your peace we're not saying we're going to make decisions based on this but we're having a forum and we want to hear what you have to say say that that's I think the point I feel like that was where people were angry with us about the whole Carol thing we just went right in we're like all right we're interviewing her and we're gonna hire like we didn't have other people we never had a forum people didn't not get to ask her questions but she was the permanent one though I mean this is just more interest correct we did H we
058just hired her as permanent but some people might be thinking why when we have the interim when we have the interim interviews the public could be a part of that as well I understand we could also have that have the inum interviews be a part of the public because for what has to be how about how about how about what about this do we so we have to do a whole commit Meg what if we talked about it right now which way are we leaning and then we can we can certainly ask people for their input personil like you said one person showed up today the news is coming this agenda's been out there for three weeks yeah I mean I told people about it so I guess you're right Lisa what what are your
059thoughts well I already said yeah just of keeping Al for as long as we can keep them same they with an interim wait Jess I am having conflicting feelings because I am immensely appreciative of all that Alice had done for our district but I think there's that lack of input piece that we have been criticized for so I I think having that Forum if weather allows I think would be would be a good idea um all right to just again like not everyone listens to our meetings to again explain our position why we think this is good in the short and the long term um and and then people have a have a chance to say their pece so I I completely understand what um Jess is saying and I I don't I don't disagree
060um however I feel like we're just I feel like with what I know I I don't see how if everybody says you should go out and hire a superintendent I just don't I just don't see that working um so I it's just with with what with what we you know so yeah I do agree um the timeline is ridiculous to hire a full-time this year um but I still am I feel like I've taken a lot of heat for not for you know what I'm saying I mean the position you're in yeah yeah you're right um but I can we do a zoom can we do something on Thursday I'm happy to run it or be there or whatever just if for nothing more than to check the box but I I do agree I
061think even if everyone came out and was like yeah let's do a full search I I don't see in my mind how that would be feasible right now um and side not because I haven't said this enough I think you're doing a great job Al like I I hope you know that I mean I talk to him all the time not about me it's and it's not and it's not about me it I I'm trying to I don't think the public knows that he's he's here till 78 o'clock at night well beyond what because there's so to do and that's that's where the concern is and I you know I don't ever it matters to me what what the people want but at the end of the day we're in charge of giving these kids
062the best education they can have and it starts at the top and I I just don't think that I it's tough It's it's I mean I guess to your point or to Tracy's point or everybody's point we have to do a search for an intrum yes so I I don't want to make a unilateral decision here but it sounds like Jess you're a little more hesitant but everybody else is comfortable with doing an interm search I'm open to ideas how you want to move forward but we should probably decide something tonight so one option is do nothing right now have something on THS today whether it's in person or Zoom I don't know does anybody have another idea I think we can also just it doesn't we could State our case it's not really feasible
063to go do a full search right now interm is the best way to go if you want and then in the future you're G to have your opportunity to voice your concerns about who the best interm person is that's still on the table for them so if I just I think that takes out what you're talking about Lori is that we can't feasibly do this right now we wouldn't most likely wouldn't vote to just start a search right now so no matter what we're doing an interim The public's comment will be in terms of who the interim should be yeah I agree well and you know another good you when you were talking you made me think of something we're not delaying the search for a new superintendent a whole year we're actually just delaying
064it like six months because we'd be starting at the end of the summer or during the summer so we so it's not like it's even that which isn't it's crazy to think it's not that far away do you know so um and I also like the idea of if we had someone you know buy the end of 2025 then Al can say hey I'm going to a budget meeting do you want to go and meet you know the Boon fincom the Berlin fincom come meet these people let me introduce them so it's like it's a little bit softer versus in the middle of budget season which is already crazy trying to get all of this done and you know to to the people that are going to say well why didn't you start this sooner
065we didn't we were trying to make heads or tails like we walked into you know someone's going to say it it was the the chaos that Al has sorted through from the beginning of the year again it's Mom and Dad knowing what's going on in the checkbook or in the or in the like in the family that aren't telling the kids because you just you're going through you're fixing this you're fixing that it's not you don't need to know we're just do we're getting it done and so I just think of the the fixes that you've done now that have got us to the place that we need to be um so Beth it sounds like maybe are you suggesting we put out we don't necessar we don't yeah we don't necessarily do like a
066a for but more of a presentation of why yeah just like and put out a timeline and then make it clear that like we're not just rubber stamping through 2026 we're just like we're like you said it's the process is going to start this summer which is not right not that far away I think if we put it as a timeline and sold our case as to why we're doing this and then this is the piece where we're going to pull you in we're going to pull you in for the interm superintendent search and then we're going to pull you back in for the permanent okay that Thursday or maybe should we wait or we make is I don't even know is this something you need to do in a meeting or is this something
067that you blast out a timeline a really we talk that good timeline of date of like time of where what happens at each event we can certainly put that out with a link to this report um yeah I mean I think including certain parties like you know PTO members or the Union um and different people within the committee to review those applications for the inum I think is super important because the fact of the matter is we have to do an interview no matter what and it's not like we're gonna if we're gonna interview for an interim as much as we think Al is doing a good job if someone else comes along who presents like they can do better we have to give that person a fair chance and that might be all right
068so so a it sounds like we want to do the interm search does anyone disagree no we have to do the does anyone else disagree no I agree I agree yeah yeah sorry yes we have to do no no yes I I know I know Jess you're hesitant but are you getting more comfortable with what everybody's saying yeah I I don't think we could attracted a good candidate right now that we would want long term or who would want to stay long term so I mean ultimately yeah so it sounds like maybe you do agree more that I thought I feel like Jess and I are on the same page yeah I just it's hard like I you know input needs to be taken and parties need to be involved okay so what if we
069did this then forget if there's gonna be weather Thursday forget doing something Thursday really hard yeah it sounds like we want to do the interm search okay so we'll just we'll we'll put something together which basically summarizes what we've all said tonight um and put out the timeline do we have to get rid of the Forum idea even like I mean could we like put out this and then say Come Share your feelings about that or on Thursday or not Thursday Thursday is going to be a tough day yeah right break so if we're not gonna so if we're not pushing to get something done before school vacation just timing wise then yeah we could definitely once we come back great we can put this out now people can talk about it while they're line
070at Disney for three hours you know whatever come back and we can put something updated do we vote on this Mike like do we vote in this at a future meeting and then if people I'm not sure what the next step is I didn't put a vote on the agenda and I don't want to break any rules so we're meeting tomorrow we have meeting tomorrow Tracy this is something we would have to vote on as a committee correct that we want to do an interim rather than it would be wise to yeah so we're meeting tomorrow we do that tomorrow because more people will be paying attention tomorrow probably have on the agenda tomorrow any business unforeseen by the chair within 48 hours and this would be considered that and you could amend it and
071make sure Nicole puts the date on it and put it out tomorrow morning sir could time stamp it right away time stamp it I want to make the same mistake twice right want to do that is that is everybody comfortable with that I think we need to reiterate what was discussed tonight though yeah do that probably one of the toughest jobs right you have three major roles as a school committee so tough right policy budget and and hiring them this next question right that's one of the toughest jobs and you want to make sure you do it right this time and and yes I I I appreciate that and like I said I I'm not please I don't take this personal at all but you've hir me to do a job and I'll do whatever
072job you ask me to do just know that so I'm not taking a personal but I enjoyed I've done a lot of jobs for you guys I have to tell you I I I really the doing I really it is definitely been um probably the hardest job I've ever had in my career even being a principal and all those other rols I've had but I think I've I've enjoyed is probably the most it really has been a challenge and and I've enjoyed seeing the changes and and I'm not just saying this because it's publicly and with you guys but you guys have been a great school Community to work with you really have right it's like I've appreciated that and I've said that to Tracy as well too like I've enjoyed working with you guys
073as school committee you guys have definitely um helped me clear the way so I can make the changes that I believe as the instruction leader need to be made to make this in better District so I thank you for that as well too and any superintendent that want to come here in the future I would say that as well too so I thank you for that as well too and I've worked with a lot of school committies so thank you for that all right uh I think that's it we'll we'll put it on we'll get the agenda updated we'll vote on it tomorrow we'll reiterate everything we talked about tonight if you have any other questions you can bring them up then as well yeah no I think that's good all right could I have
074a everybody good any last minute questions comments anything I think the last comment I just want to make is that I I think we're we're we're way better today than we have been in a long time and so when I say like we're a district in flux and that's why we should consider an interim I don't want people to think that I don't think we're a great District I think we're an awesome District but I think we're gonna we're headed towards greatness and just takes a little bit of time there's a lot of balls in the air still that's exactly it yeah I totally that point I 100% agree with it would be nice to have the continuity right okay a motion to J this meeting so moved second La J all in favor I
075I against all right meeting is over thank you thanks everybody do back so is Nicole going to do these