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Date: 3/14/2022
LUDLOW – After months of searching and a day of final interviews, on March 10 the Ludlow School Committee offered former Chelmsford and Uxbridge Superintendent and current interim middle school principal at the Dover-Sherburn Public Schools, Frank Tiano, the opportunity to become the next superintendent of Ludlow Public Schools.
The committee first met on March 9 to interview four candidates including Tiano, North Brookfield Public Schools Interim Superintendent Mary Jane Rickson, Athol-Royalston Regional School District Director of Intervention and Acceleration Cynthia Kennedy and Lee Public Schools Superintendent and Business Administrator Michael Richard.
In his opening comments, Tiano discussed his experience and desire to work in Ludlow.
“In a previous life I have been a superintendent for eight years in two separate districts and this is my 32nd year in education, my first 25 years I was in two school districts because I am somebody who connects with a community and right now I am looking for a community that shares my values and shares my commitment and passion to work together to meet the needs of students and families in town,” he said.
Tiano also discussed his previous work with budgets in Chelmsford and Uxbridge.
“When I was superintendent in Chelmsford, I had a budget close to $60 million and as superintendent in Uxbridge, the budget was roughly around $25 million. Working on the budgeting process is a collaborative effort in terms of working with our School Committee, working with our town manager, Board of Selectmen and our Finance Committee,” he said. “When you talk about managing the budget, it starts with the strategic plan and the district plan by working with stakeholders to identify the levers that are going to move student achievement, that way it is clear, and it is overt.”
Along with the budget process, Tiano also spoke about his relationship with town officials in his previous superintendent work.
“In Chelmsford we had tri-board meetings with our Selectmen, our Finance Committee and our School Committee, and that was more of a formal setting, however the relationship developed with the town manager in Chelmsford as well as Uxbridge was the key to ensuring that we were on the same page,” he said. “It starts with a relationship and a dedication to that.”
Tiano added that relationships are important across the board as a superintendent, especially during collective bargaining.
“My approach is to build the relationship and front load those connections and open lines of communication. In Chelmsford and in Uxbridge I met with union leadership twice a month. Sometimes those conversations were 10 minutes, sometimes they were two hours. When I heard concerns, I would look into it and fixed it,” he said. “We carried that through the pandemic for us and we were one of the first districts in the commonwealth to have our memorandum of agreement in place.”
Following the first day of interviews, the committee met the next day, and each member gave their top choice, beginning with Vice Chair Charles Mullin who said Tiano was his top candidate because of his work on the budget, contract negotiations and larger town wide projects, including work on synthetic playing fields in Chelmsford.
Committee member Sarah Bowler said Tiano was her top candidate as well, especially after talking to one of his previous districts who said, “He was a loss to the district.”
“I really liked his entry plan I really liked the residency he spoke about; going into the schools, getting in there and becoming involved with the students and teachers,” she said.
After investigating Tiano’s bounce between three jobs relatively quickly, committee member Chip Harrington said Tiano was still his top choice.
“He, in my opinion, was the most experienced and the one thing we need right now is somebody who knows budgets, knows municipal government and knows how to build relationships and I think Frank brings that to the table,” he said. “He really gets education in my opinion, the people who are educators on the subcommittee thought he really understands education and they really liked what he said, and their opinions really matter to me, too.”
While he said Tiano was his second choice, committee member Jeffrey Laing said Rickson was his number one choice because he could tell how much she cared about the children, saying that she was the type of superintendent he would want around his own children.
Committee Chair Michael Kelliher also spoke highly of Tiano as his top choice because of his budgetary experience with challenges looming in the next several budget cycles.
“The one thing he did that none of the other candidates did was that he made a point to talk to students at pretty much every level. I was impressed that he did that because this is all about reaching the kids,” he said.
Bowler clarified that Richard also spoke directly with many of the students during his walk-through as well.
The committee unanimously approved a motion to offer the job to Tiano.
In a surprise turn of events, Kelliher called Tiano during the meeting to offer him the job.
“I am very happy, and I do accept,” Tiano said.
Following the impromptu phone call, Kelliher thanked Interim Superintendent Lisa Nemeth for her work since former Superintendent Todd Gazda’s departure and Mullin thanked the Superintendent Search Subcommittee for their work as well.
If Tiano accepts the position once the contract is negotiated, he would assume the role on July 1.