Community Corner

Interim Superintendent Candidate to Interview Tonight in Public

The interview is scheduled for 5 p.m. at Swampscott High School.

 

Today at 5 p.m. a candidate for interim superintendent will interview in public before the School Committee at the high school.

That candidate is Garry Murphy. He is well suited to meet the district's needs, and is the lone finalist for the interim position, said Rick Kraft, a member of both the School Committee member and interim search panel.

Find out what's happening in Swampscottwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Murphy was interim superintendent at Hillsboro-Deering last year and an educational consultant for Arlington, Nashoba Valley, Groton-Dunstable and Swamspcott between 2005-2010.  He retired in 2005 after 13 years as superintendent for the Triton Regional School District.

He will come to the committee recommended by the search panel.

Find out what's happening in Swampscottwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

If Monday's interview goes well, the plan is to bring Murphy's recommendation to the School Committee for a vote on Wednesday, April 24.

Originally, the screening committee planned to bring three or four finalists to the School Committee for public interviews but panel members are confident Murphy's experiences are so well suited for the job's duties that he is the one they want to bring forward, Kraft said.

The candidate has experience both as a regular superintendent and as an interim superintendent, is very well respected in the field and has experience in Swampscott, consulting in the district several years ago, the screening committee member said.

School Committee members said at their last meeting that they wanted an interim superintendent who would follow through with existing programs and initiatives not just serve as a placeholder.

Murphy is now serving as Wakefield's interim superintendent.

If hired for the Swampscott job he will start July 1.

Search panelists have yet to announce how long the interim will serve.

The panel received 15 applications, and narrowed the field to eight candidates before they decided to recommend Murphy, Kraft said. 

He and School Committee member Ted Delano were joined on the search group by four of the district's five principals, teachers Tom Reid and Amy Jalbert, Business Manager Ed Cronin,  Information Technology Director Kevin Kaczynski and Town Administrator Tom Younger.

Superintendent Lynne Celli will serve in the coming school year as executive superintendent for special projects, and is scheduled to earn $85,000, or half her current $170,000 salary.

The superintendent's special projects work starts July 1, 2013. Responsibilities will include the following:

  • work on the district's elementary school building needs project
  • pursuing Chapter 70 and other state and federal funding 
  • pursuing grant funding
  • alignment of curriculum including STEM programs

School Committee members said earlier that they hope to hire the interim superintendent without spending any more money than the district would have spent had no changes been made.

" ...  we will keep the combined cost of both the interim Superintendent and Dr. Celli’s new position very close to the current year’s cost of a single full-time Superintendent," the committee said in a statement released by the chairman, Larry Beaupre.


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