Schools

Superintendent Succession Plan Needs More Talk

The School Committee wants an interim superintendent for a full year, though the door may be open to re-evaluate the person's role after six months.

 

The School Committee interviewed the lone recommended candidate for interim superintendent Monday at the high school, but, in the end, questions remained about what his role would be throughout the next school year.

The recommended candidate is Garry Murphy, a retired superintendent who has served as interim superintendent in two school districts, most recently this year in Wakefield, where he continues to serve.

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Swampscott School Committee and interim superintendent screening committee member Rick Kraft said the consensus of School Committee members is they want to bring Murphy aboard for the next school year as interim superintendent.

He would serve as a part-time superintendent, working with and mentoring Swampscott Assistant Superintendent Pamela Angelakis.

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After six months, the committee might want to reevaluate the arrangement — the extent to which Murphy coaches Angelakis for the remaining six months of the school year and the extent to which she assumes the primary role.

Kraft said he and the School Committee need to talk to Angelakis and Murphy about arrangements. 

On Monday, Murphy said he likes the idea of working with and coaching someone from inside the district.

At one point, though, he asked Business Manager Ed Cronin what the district's leadership team prefers.

Cronin said they would prefer to see Pamela Angelakis as the interim superintendent.

Murphy then told the committee he was less excited about the interim role after hearing what the leadership team wants.

Still, School Committee members said they prefer an experienced superintendent to come in and help all parties, including the School Committee, learn to work together.

Marianne Hartmann said the district's situation is analgous to a patient who needs surgery.

The surgeon, the experienced superintendent, would carry out the needed short term procedure so the patient, the district, could thereafter rely on the care of a general provider.

The screening committee did not talk salary with Murphy.

He told the School Committee he is confident that whatever the budgeted amount is, it will work.

He also said, earlier in the conversation with the committee, that he was interested in bringing his current assistant with him to Swampscott, sharing the duties and sharing the compensation.

The committee did not seem to endorse this idea but their stance did not appear to be a deal breaker.

The School Committee meets next on Wednesday. They will likely speak with the assistant superintendent then.

Murphy said he has come into numerous messy situations to help get districts squared way.

He said he came to the Swampscott School District in 2006 as a consultant while the district was in the throws of a messy situation. One of the things the administrative team did at the time was bring in Ed Cronin as the business manager.

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.

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.

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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