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Date: 5/23/2022
CHICOPEE – Executive Director of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees Glenn Koocher joined the Chicopee School Committee to discuss superintendent search options during their May 18 meeting.
Previously, the School Committee named Assistant Superintendent Alvin Morton as acting superintendent during their May 5 meeting. The decision came in the wake of an April 22 announcement stating that former superintendent Lynn Clark, who was arrested on April 6 for making false statements during an FBI examination, would no longer serve as the school district’s leader.
In his presentation to the committee, Koocher discussed avenues the district can take in searching for permeant leadership. Koocher shared that the law only requires that the superintendent hiring occurs during a public meeting.
“The School Committee has very broad discretion in what it wants to do. You aren’t required to have a search. You aren’t required to have a particular process,” said Koocher. However, the state school committee executive director shared that most school districts engage in a search process. On most occasions, the internal candidate frequently possesses “a head start” in the search process, according to Koocher.
Koocher explained the paths often traveled by school districts. A third of the state’s school districts address the position through internal promotion, another third performs a regional or national search through the state and the remainder focus on school committees starting a formal process defined by specific criteria.
“That process consists of identifying the criteria that you would like to define your process, the goals for your district and the expectations you’d have for the superintendent,” said Koocher. The advent of social media expediates the national search process as the position reaches a wider audience, according to Koocher.
Koocher stressed there is nothing surrounding Chicopee’s superintendent vacancy that “makes it an undesirable position.” The state school committee executive director also shared that the organization can guide the committee through different avenues.
“We can construct a survey document for you to assess the community, we can do some focus groups for you to see what the community wants you to hear, we can guide you in preparing and getting through the process and if you elect do your own search, we can provide extensive technical assistance,” said Koocher.
School Committee members then posed questions to Koocher and Massachusetts Association of School Committee member Liz Lafond. The committees’ inquiries focused on the state school committee’s search success rate, the district’s process of assembling a search committee and the qualifications of a successful superintendent.
Going forward, Ward 7 School Committee member Donald Lamothe said it’s unlikely a search process can be completed by the new school year. He advocated that the best decision is implementing Morton as acting superintendent for the 2022-2023 school year.
“What I don’t want to do is hire someone and end up with them leaving shortly after or us regretting it,” said Lamothe. Ward 3 School Committee member Saulo DePaula agreed that the district should take the process “slow and steady.” The School Committee will make final decisions on the topic during future meetings.
The School Committee is scheduled to meet again on June 1.