Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.

O’Shea selected to succeed Doyle as superintendent

Date: 12/29/2015

LONGMEADOW – The School Committee has chosen a new leader for the district – current Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District (HWRSD) Superintendent M. Martin O’Shea.

The committee voted 4 to 2 to hire O’Shea as successor of Superintendent Marie Doyle, who plans to retire after the 2015-2016 school year, after second round of interviews with O’Shea and Wolf Swamp Elementary School Principal Neil Gile at its Dec. 22 meeting.

Site visits were also conducted for Gile and O’Shea on Dec. 21 and 22, respectively.

School Committee members Michelle Grodsky and Russell Dupere voted against hiring O’Shea, but said their decisions were based on support for Gile as superintendent and not with dissatisfaction with O’Shea.

School Committee Chair Janet Robinson was out of town for the meeting and School Committee Vice Chair Michael Clark served as temporary chair.

School Committee member John Fitzgerald, who arrived at the end of the second round of interviews, said he encouraged both finalists to apply for the position, but believed O’Shea was the best fit for the position due to six years experience as HWRSD’s superintendent.

Dupere said he believes Gile, who has been principal of Wolf Swamp for nine years, is a “rising star.”

He added, “Who do I know that was a principal who went directly to superintendent? And the odd thing is [its] Marty O’Shea. He was principal [of Minnechaug Regional High School in Wilbraham] for only four years.”

Grodsky said at least 300 residents signed a petition for the committee to hire Gile as superintendent.

“We’ve received a lot of feedback from the public,” Dupere stated. “I want to make it clear that that feedback was not just for Dr. Gile. We received a lot of feedback from people that would like Mr. O’Shea to be the superintendent.”

He added during both site visits O’Shea and Gile were described as trustworthy, honest and transparent.

 “They were very clear at [HWRSD] that there’s really no surprises,” he noted. “He keeps them updated where they are in their budget issues, what it looks like, and then over time if it improves it improves, but the whole time they knew there might be an issue.”

School Committee member Kimberly King said the district might be facing budgetary issues in the next decade due to the town potentially reaching the Proposition 2 ½ levy limit and she believes O’Shea would be best qualified to lead the district during fiscally difficult times due to his experiencing working in HWRSD, which has seen budget shortfalls in previous years.

During the 2014-2015 school year HWRSD faced more than a $1 million shortfall in its fiscal year 2016 budget.

During his interview, O’Shea said he anticipates completing his doctoral degree from Northeastern University in Boston sometime in May 2016.

King posed a question to O’Shea regarding free full-day kindergarten in HWRSD.

“I don’t want to suggest that that makes sense right now here in Longmeadow,” O’Shea said. “That’s not how I approach things ... We have full-day kindergarten in Hampden-Wilbraham and it was supported by the state’s full-day kindergarten grant. We were scheduled to get about $90,000 and in our view the requirements for that grant were becoming too onerous in terms of the assessments that our teachers were required to conduct in class [and] in terms of the accreditation that the kindergarten schools needed.”

Dupere also posed a question to O’Shea about free full-day kindergarten, specifically how he could make it a reality for the district.

O’Shea said it would be a major undertaking that would require raising advocacy Longmeadow by meeting with elected officials, residents, local organizations as well as community and business leaders.  

“I always want to make sure that we’ve got our own sort of fiscal house in order before we approach the town and say, ‘There’s something new and additional that we want to do,’” he added. “The first thing is, frankly, that you work inside your own budget and make sure that you’ve got costs properly contained [and] you’ve identified all the efficiencies. I think you need to do that to establish the trust; to establish the beginnings of a good conversation.”

The School Committee’s deadline for contract negotiations with O’Shea is Jan. 5, 2016. The committee’s next meeting is set for Jan. 4, 2016.