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School Committee selects O'Shea to lead district

Date: 12/23/2015

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’s, 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.

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 their support for Gile as superintendent and not in 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."

O’Shea was principal of Minnechaug Regional High School prior to becoming superintendent of HWRSD. O’Shea began his career in Longmeadow as a history teacher at Longmeadow High School. He later became History Department chair and assistant principal before moving on to HWRSD.

The School Committee and O'Shea began contract negotiations immediately, according to a press release from Longmeadow Public Schools. The School Committee previously stated it hoped to have all aspects of the superintendent search complete by Jan. 5, 2016.

For more on this story, read the Dec. 29 edition of The Reminder or check back at www.thereminder.com.