Superintendent Search Committee Set

Editor's note: This article was updated on Friday at 9:30 a.m. to correct the names of the members of the selection committee.

The committee that will screen candidates for the next Melrose Public Schools superintendent has been set.

On Tuesday night, the School Committee approved a slate of search committee members put forth by School Committee member Kristin Thorp, drawn from the list of candidates who submitted letters of interest.

The search committee—which will review and interview superintendent applicants, forwarding the top 3-5 to the School Committee—will be comprised of:

• Two School Committee members: Chairwoman Margaret Driscoll and Carrie Kourkoumelis

• Two principals: Principal Dan Richards and Principal Dr. Dennet Sidell

• Two teachers: (MVMMS) teacher Naomi Baline, also president of the Melrose Education Association teachers' union, and Melrose High School teacher Paula Conis, who co-chaired the high school's steering committee for the NEASC re-accreditation process

• One administrator: Greg Zammuto, school business manager

• Three parents: Jessica Dugan, Eric Heath and Kathleen McGourthy

• Two community members: Dr. Jacy Ippolito and Lisa Lewis, one of the founding members of the Melrose Education Coalition

• One expert in the field: Marty Stanton, the.

In submitting her list of candidates, Thorp said that the "quality of the candidates was incredible and there was so many people that could be slotted into so many combinations," so she sought to take a balanced approach: people with children and without children, newcomers and long-time Melrosians, those with hiring experience from their professional work and those who didn't, and so forth.

"There's no perfect grouping, but I think there are many ways to do wonderful groupings and I hope this may be one of them," she said.

The committee approved Thorp's slate of candidates by a 6-1 vote, with Kourkoumelis voting against, saying that "some members of this committee" shared the names of candidates with other members of the committee in private communications outside of a public meeting process, which she said "violates the spirit and requirements of the Open Meeting Law." Kourkoumelis did not specify which committee members received shared names of candidates; Thorp, Christine Casatelli and Don Constantine each served on the School Committee's selection subcommittee, while Thorp, Casatelli and Don Lehman submitted slates of candidates for consideration.

All the committee members comments on the large number of people who submitted letters of interest about serving on the search committee and the quality of the candidates.

"I read over all these letters—and I read them over several times—and the only real conclusion I came up with is we have a deep bench of talent," Casatelli said.

Casatelli also said she disagreed with the recommendation from the Massachusetts Association of School Committees regarding chairmanship of the search committee, and said she believed that a School Committee member should be the chairman of the committee, given that one of the committee's main roles is hiring a superintendent and holding that person accountable.

"This is one of our most important duties as a school committee," she said. Driscoll said that the committee could discuss that at its next meeting in January.