At a special meeting on June 4, the School Committee voted 4-1 to seek an interim principal to succeed Mary Beth Banios, whose resignation from the Hildreth Elementary School (HES) is effective July 1. According to the terms of the motion, the interim position will be for one year, with the option to extend it to a second year if necessary.
School Committee Chairman Keith Cheveralls reminded members that hiring a principal falls within the authority of the superintendent. According to Cheveralls, the role of the School Committee is only to require that the search committee be representative of the school and community.
A number of speakers at the meeting acknowledged that there is a deep rift among teachers at the elementary school, which could complicate the hiring process. Mary Traphagen, a parent representative on the Elementary School Council, told the committee that appointing anyone from within the school as interim principal would worsen the situation. “There is a division of feeling within the school—some happiness and some unhappiness,” she said, “and that division is pretty deep. If someone is hired from within, either happy or unhappy, it will be a tough year—or two. So the suggestion I am making to you is that you look externally.”
Carlene Phillips, the community representative on the School Council, phrased the matter even more bluntly, saying, “I’d like to see the [hiring] decision made on the best candidate to carry forth the strategic goals of the system and the curriculum. It’s time to bring out the divide and be open about it, because it is destroying the school ... Someone coming in from the outside is going to spend the year listening to the sides and being obsessed with that. And that would be bad for the kids.”
Deb Barton advocated finding a permanent principal as soon as possible, to promote stability and healing within the school. Barton, who is also a parent representative on the School Council, said, “If there is an interim appointment, I’d like to keep it as short as possible. I have a kid who’s in the third grade now, and I really want someone to come in and start the healing process, getting these things worked out. So much progress has been made in the school, and great things are going on there as well as some issues. And I would hate to see those things interfered with, or the momentum lost. . . .I don’t want to see a temporary solution, someone from the outside coming in and just being temporary.”
First-grade teacher Kristina Lazaro, who is returning after maternity leave, pointed out that timing is a problem for hiring a permanent person. “I worry about finding someone in time and having them come in ready for the school year and trying to hustle-bustle to get things going.” She suggested that the school would benefit from a quiet year to let things settle down during the search for a long-term principal. “I want someone who is going to stay in Harvard for a long time,” she concluded.
After hearing the public comments, Cheveralls advised, “This is not about figuring out who’s to blame for anything here ... There’s clearly a divide here. It’s not the task of this committee to understand the origins. This is something that has taken a long time to occur, and it will take a long time to resolve.” He urged the committee to focus on finding “the optimal solution” rather than “driving the wedge deeper.” Cheveralls called for discussion on three possible “models” for the immediate future—an interim principal, a permanent principal, or a superintendent/principal combination.
But other members argued that airing the rift is a necessary step to finding a solution. “What is this divide?” Justicz asked. “I hear about it all the time. ... But is this about curriculum? About MCAS? About personalities? Understanding that is going to be the key to determining how we proceed.” Justicz argued that the best approach to promote stability would be to “post the position pronto, form a search committee, and get cracking” on looking for a permanent principal. Noting that she has three children in the school, Justicz expressed concern that the two sides are taking dogmatic stands, rather than working toward solutions.
Member Piali De urged the School Committee to take the time necessary “to name the problem.” “Today was the first day I clearly heard somebody stand up and say, ‘We’ve got a divide, and it’s tearing our school apart,’” she said. “Our obligation over the next couple of years is to confront this.” She argued that the rift within the school makes it prudent to hire an interim principal at this point. “I think it is dangerous right now to hire a permanent person because we don’t even know our situation.” Hiring a permanent person now would be “a disaster,” she said.
All committee members agreed that it is late in the year to begin the search for a permanent hire, although Justicz argued that the committee should at least make an effort before settling on an interim appointment.
Virtually no discussion was devoted to the third possible model, creating a joint superintendent/principal position, perhaps in conjunction with promoting an assistant principal from within HES. Only Justicz suggested it, noting that it would offer significant savings while allowing the committee to hire a permanent principal as soon as they found a suitable candidate, rather than having a contract with an interim person for a full year. According to one estimate, combining the superintendent and principal positions could save the school system more than $90,000 per year, compared to the cost for an interim hire. Cheveralls called for a vote on a motion to hire an interim principal, and it passed with Justicz alone voting against it.
Superintendent Jefferson explained that a variety of formal and informal networks exist for locating potential job candidates. Schools can advertise in area newspapers and educational publications, contact the Massachusetts Elementary School Principals’ Association, or use the superintendents’ list-serve.
Jefferson opined that the search should focus on experienced candidates. “I don’t see HES as a starter school,” he said, in what was probably the understatement of the day. He noted, however, that interim appointments attract only a small pool of applicants. Many of those job-seekers are recently retired principals who, for tax reasons, prefer a one-year appointment to a longer one.
Jefferson recalled that previous searches have begun with meetings that included both faculty and parents, followed by the establishment of a screening committee. “I would look to cast a broad net,” he said. “I don’t see this as a lost year. One of the reasons for a strategic plan is that it transcends who is sitting in any particular chair.”
The committee also voted to hold an exit interview with Banios, perhaps in two sessions with two School Committee members at each, to better understand the situation at the elementary school. Cheveralls noted that he would not take part in such an interview, as his wife is on the HES faculty.