BOSTON – The Boston Faculty Committee will vote at 5 p.m. Wednesday to determine who would be the metropolis’s subsequent superintendent.
The search has come down to 2 finalists – Somerville Superintendent Mary Skipper and Area 1 Superintendent for Boston Public Faculties Dr. Tommy Welch. Each went by way of public interviews final week.
Skipper has been the superintendent in Somerville for seven years. Previous to that, she was the Community Superintendent of Excessive Faculties for BPS, the place she oversaw 34 excessive colleges and 19,500 college students.
Welch oversees 15 colleges, serving greater than 7,000 college students throughout Charlestown, East Boston, and the North Finish because the Area 1 Superintendent. He joined BPS in 2015 after being the principal of a highschool in Los Angeles.
“The search committee’s completed a fantastic job. We have now two robust candidates who’re each native who know our district inside out and who’re able to hit the bottom working,” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu advised WBZ-TV Wednesday.
The brand new superintendent will take over for Dr. Brenda Cassellius who’s leaving Thursday after serving three years.
The college committee vote comes two days after town, state and college district reached a deal to keep away from a state takeover of Boston Public Faculties.
“We have now lots of work to do on the settlement that we simply signed with the state as properly. There are some 40 commitments which have clear timelines and deadlines, a few of these come up fairly rapidly. August 15 is a kind of first dates, so there’s lots that we’re kicking off instantly,” Wu stated.
Tanisha Sullivan, the top of the NAACP’s Boston department, has been pushing to pause the method and delay Wednesday’s vote.
“The issues are usually not in regards to the people, the 2 people who’ve been introduced as finalists. It truly is in regards to the course of. It cannot be understated how a lot of an influence the cloud of receivership, potential receivership, hanging over the district, how a lot an influence that had on this course of. It’s, for anybody who’s interested by taking over a brand new job, figuring out what the job goes to be is a primary expectation,” Sullivan advised WBZ Wednesday.
“The search and interview course of has been honest and complete. We imagine that transferring ahead with the method locations the wants of our college students on the forefront and is the subsequent greatest plan of action,” Boston Faculty Committee chair Jeri Robinson stated in an announcement.
“The search course of has been one which attracted a lot of candidates. We obtained extra candidates in Boston than in different cities across the nation in a troublesome time to be recruiting for this high job. Our search committee, which represented the neighborhood throughout all teams and views and backgrounds, made certain that at each stage of the method, by way of a number of interviews and vetting and supplies, there was a consultant group, racially and by expertise and by viewpoint in that pool as properly,” Wu stated.
