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Date: 4/4/2023
NORTHAMPTON — After hours of interviews and subsequent deliberation, a permanent superintendent has been chosen for Northampton Public Schools.
During a March 27 special meeting, the School Committee elected Portia Bonner to become the permanent superintendent after this school year.
Bonner will replace current interim Superintendent Jannell Pearson-Campbell, who has served in that position for NPS since July 2022.
The school district has been in search of a permanent superintendent since the fall when the School Committee selected the Massachusetts Association of School Committees as the firm responsible for assisting the search.
Finalists for the position were announced in early March and included Bonner, Berkshire Hills Regional School District Director of Teaching and Learning Jonathan Bruno, Pittsfield Public Schools Deputy Superintendent Marisa Mendonsa and Tara Tiller — the chief finance officer at the Cheatham County School District in Nashville, TN.
Prior to voting for Bonner on March 27, a straw poll was conducted by the School Committee on the four candidates, where each member was asked to rank their top two choices. Bonner finished first, as seven members had her at one while three ranked her two. Tiller placed number two in the poll since two members ranked her number one and three ranked her two.
With this selection, Bonner becomes the first permanent superintendent at NPS since John Provost, who left the district last summer to become the superintendent of the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District.
Pearson-Campbell began as the interim superintendent of NPS starting in July after Provost left.
Out of the four finalists who interviewed for the position, Bonner brought the most experience. She received a doctorate in curriculum and instruction at the University of Connecticut and also specializes in strategic planning and policy. Over the course of 30 years, she has served in a bevy of different school leadership positions including, most recently, superintendent of East Haven Public Schools for four years and interim superintendent of Bozrah Public Schools from 2021 to 2022.
In all, she has spent time in leadership roles for four different districts.
“I am very excited about joining the district and working with the School Committee, staff and administrators, students and caregivers, and the community of Northampton to achieve equity, close educational gaps, and provide a safe environment for every child. In line with the district’s mission and beliefs, I am committed to ensuring that each and every child has equal access to opportunities and receives what they need to be successful. Working together, we can positively impact future generations.,” Bonner said in a statement.
Superintendent candidate interviews
The School Committee assessed the four finalists by using categories that were formulated using a rubric. The different categories included anti-racist initiatives, budgeting strategy, cultivating a culture in the district, Northampton’s appeal and more. According to School Committee member Dina Levi, the rubric was used to develop interview questions for the candidates.
The committee conducted extensive interviews with the four finalists on March 21 and March 23. Each member took turns posing a question that focused on the candidates’ assessment of the strengths and challenges facing NPS.
Bonner noted the demographic changes happening in Northampton, and how she would be glad to be a part of those changes.
“I would be glad to help in that transition and help to make sure that we have things in place where we can continue with the academic rigor and still give opportunities to every child that’s in the district,” Bonner said.
The former Bozrah interim superintendent drew a correlation between Northampton’s changing demographic and the demographic change she witnessed during her time as assistant superintendent in Hamden, Conn. During that time, there began to be a mixture of affluent families with those who were part of a lower socioeconomic status.
During her interview, Tiller said she was drawn to Northampton’s progressiveness and proximity to her home of Orange County, New York, where she was born and raised.
“I want to be stretched by the diversity of both the LGBTQ community, as well as the diversity with students, as well as with the community as a whole,” Tiller said.
When it came to the budgetary process, Bonner explained how it is a collaborative process that involves department heads, the business manager, administrators and a representative from the School Committee.
She explained how she has managed budgets that were as large as $115 million to as small as $7 million.
“It’s incredibly important to make sure that we monitor our spending,” she explained, of the budget process.
As the chief finance officer for almost five years, budgeting was a major strength Tiller highlighted throughout most of the interview.
Upon first becoming the chief finance officer in Tennessee, Tiller said she remembered how the budget was a disaster and how she had to learn the minutiae of it to bring it back to respectable levels. In her first year, she said she saved the Cheetham County district $2 million by renegotiating every contract and looking at every expense and resource.
“I’ve been very successful as the chief financial and operations officer, both with capital projects and our fund balance,” said Tiller. “When I started, we had $1.8 million in this fund balance, and now we have $14.6 million in this fund balance.”
As someone who has an extensive background in curriculum and instruction, Bonner highlighted her experiences rolling out a curriculum in Hamden that was equitable and anti-racist.
She expressed how the district enrolled an equitable curriculum that was ahead of its time in 2005 by implementing “courageous conversations” that would encourage teachers and administrators to be more empathetic in terms of differences.
“We had facilitators come into our district to work with us and take a look at our curriculum,” Bonner said. “[They] worked with us in terms of strategies to differentiate our instruction…to bring in resources that were culturally responsive to our demographics.”
She explained how it is important to incorporate a new program like this slowly while utilizing teacher input, and then pilot the program to see if it works. Simultaneously, she said it is important to make sure it meets the goals and vision of the district in question.
With bullying being a major hot topic in the district, the candidates had to answer questions about how they would approach bias.
For Tiller, the goal would be to have students advocate for themselves in the community as a short-term fix. The long term, meanwhile, involves education, according to Tiller.
“I think there needs to be student input on what it looks like in school, who is it between, how is it happening,” Tiller said, regarding bullying. “More importantly, I think we need to teach students.”
Bonner, meanwhile, said it is best to institute positive sayings around the district that encourages students to celebrate each other’s differences. She also emphasized the need for a restorative practice for bullying, both in the short term and in the long term, by giving teachers the tools to help address instances of bullying in schools.
When it comes to cultivating a community where people want to stay in Northampton, Bonner highlighted how there are a lot of new faces in the Northampton district that need support for stability and structure. More specifically, Bonner said she wants to look at different ways the district can improve upon its diversity and inclusion initiatives while also maintaining a student-centered environment.
“It is really building upon where you are now and taking it forward,” Bonner said, regarding the Northampton district. “But, then also being mindful that the world is global.”
Bonner said she is someone who is very transparent and visible in a leadership role in a school district and at the community level.
“It’s important for me to attend community events, to be out there, and to really speak highly of the schools,” said Bonner.
School Committee thoughts
Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra, who chairs the School Committee, said she felt like Bonner was the most “well-rounded” out of all of the finalists.
“I also just really appreciated the sense of excitement that I got from her about our district,” Sciarra said. “I also appreciated what she said about communication and how she would work with all of the stakeholders.”
For Ward 6 member Margaret Miller, all of the candidates were “top notch,” but she chose Bonner because of her extensive experience as a superintendent, especially across two different districts.
Miller also highlighted Bonner’s experience with budgets in multiple different communities and commended her ability to stabilize the Bozrah district when they were in a time of upheaval.
“Every single category in our rubric, she rated at the top,” said Miller. She was the clear, for me, number one.”
Member Holly Ghazey also gushed about Bonner and her experience and holistic approach to community building. “I think she can work with all of our constituents and I think she is a very community-minded person,” she said.
After voting to allow Sciarra to enter into contract negotiations with Bonner, the School Committee voted unanimously on March 29 to approve a contract with Bonner. She will start her new role on July 1.