The Pretext in Search for Superintendent

Superintendent Search in Disarray

On February 2, 2016 the Worcester School Committee held a “forum” on what qualities Worcester residents wanted to see in the new Superintendent of Schools.  The so called forum was confusing and to some extent showed how inexperienced or confused the three so called panelists from the school committee were.

As a rule panelist are the speakers. In this forum the panelist said nothing and Worcester residents spoke from the floor.

School Committee Woman McCullough ran the “forum” like a school marm. She seemed a little nervous and unsure as she told speaker after speaker “your time is up”, “please only talk about skills”, and “hold your applause”.

The irony here is that the first speaker from the audience asked what are the objective requirements for selecting a new superintendent and whether direct experience as a superintendent was required. The same speaker asked if speaking a second language other than English is a requirement.  The three school committee women on stage Donna Colorio, Dianne Briancharia, and Molly McCullough, could not answer the questions. Ms. McCullough said that she would refer the question to the school committee.

After the so called “forum” Ms. McCullough and Ms. Briancharia took the time to share their personal criteria for a new superintendent; the successful candidate they said would be effective, communicative, and a problem solver.

Ms. Colorio went out of her way not to give a statement on the qualities that she thinks a new superintendent should have.   I supposed that she might have worried about a question regarding her vote to take money from the Worcester Public schools and give it to charter schools.  

School Committee members John Monfredo and Brian O’Connell, although not on the stage, gave more coherent answers as what are the preferred requirements for a superintendent. Mr. O’Connell said that previous experience as a superintendent was preferred and the ability to speak a second language was a plus. Mr. Monfredo said that a Certificate of Superintendency was a must, but a doctorate was a preference.

The president of the teachers union spoke and asked that a member of his union be on the search committee.

A representative from the Worcester Educational Cooperative said that a superintendent should be able to fight for full funding from the State. The Worcester Schools are underfunded per the State’s educational formula. This is especially true for special needs students.

A parent said that a superintendent should also be able to get funding for gifted students.

Worcester resident, Ken Person, said that the Worcester schools were actually good schools when compared to other schools in the country. He wanted a superintendent that could continue and hopefully improve what is good about Worcester Schools.

A couple of teachers felt that there is a need for a superintendent to be able to communicate well with all principal parties, students, parents, teachers, and staff.

School safety was brought up by one speaker who thought that the decision to limit the search for a superintendent to within the Worcester School District was a mistake. He felt that a superintendent from a larger urban area with experience in school safety was needed. Although the speaker on school safety was one of only a few who described an objective requirement, the school committee had previously decided against it.

Some speakers mentioned diversity and the fact that over 90 languages are spoken by students in Worcester Public schools. They suggested that the new superintendent should be able to relate to this diversity not only educationally, but in terms of personal experience.

It was pretty clear that some of the school committee members could not or did not want to state objective criteria for a superintendent. To some extent the so called forum was a charade masking a subjective choice that seems already made.

The School Committee will likely choose Dr. Bienienda because she grew up in Worcester and worked her whole career in the Worcester Schools. The School Committee will ignore the facts that Dr. Rodriques has run a School District, has the same experiences of many in the Worcester Schools who have recently come to Worcester as the Worcester Schools become more majority minority.