GREENFIELD — The new school superintendent search is moving along, with the School Committee voting Wednesday night to post the position by April 21 and schedule the beginning of the application review process five weeks later, on May 28.
Early in the meeting during the public comment portion, before the discussion about the superintendent search began, Greenfield resident Doug Selwyn asked why the School Committee is just now starting the search.
“Why are you starting at this late day if you knew this was coming in September?” he asked.
Former Superintendent Jordana Harper told the committee last September that she did not plan to renew her contract with the Greenfield School Department and would be leaving by the end of June. The former superintendent later came to an “amicable agreement” with the committee that ended her tenure on Feb. 19. Neither Harper nor the committee released details about her departure, but before she left, Harper had been out of work for about a month for an injury she said occurred while on the job.
The School Committee had several discussions about the search and finally chose its Superintendent Search Committee this spring.
The School Committee hired the Massachusetts Association of School Committees to help with the search. One of the association’s field consultants, Liz Laford, will review all applications and make recommendations about candidates the School Committee should consider. She has been working with the Superintendent Search Committee and presented an example of a brochure this week that will be used while advertising the job and interviewing candidates.
Laford said the information in the colorful brochure will be specific to Greenfield, though she pulled an example from the internet. The brochure will be edited to include the role Greenfield expects its superintendent to play as well as some basic requirements. It will also have information about the city and its schools.
While several School Committee members felt there should be photos of local students in the brochure, others weren’t as concerned because the job needs to be posted immediately and there might not be enough time. If there is, members said, students will be included.
“This is just the ‘fluff’ part of the process,” said member Jean Wall, who heads the Superintendent Search Committee. “We want to get (potential candidates) to fall in love with Greenfield.”
As the discussion turned to specifics, salary range became the focus and School Committee member Glenn Johnson-Mussad voiced concerns. The full committee had not yet discussed it as it has been busy with school reopening plans over the past seven or eight months, so he was unsure how it could vote on a range without more information.
Laford recommended the range be $162,000 to $175,000, but by the end of the evening the School Committee voted to expand the range from $155,000 to $175,000. Laford and committee member Susan Hollins, a former Greenfield School Department superintendent, assured the committee that there are very few superintendents making less than the salary range it decided upon and more who are making into the $200,000 range and above.
School Committee Vice President Susan Eckstrom said when she first saw the recommended range, she felt “sticker shock,” but realized the school district needs to remain competitive.
“I think we need to slow down,” Johnson-Mussad said, though he voted to approve the agreed-upon range. “How can we vote without data?”
Some committee members said the committee should have checked other area schools to see what their superintendents are making, and weren’t even sure what Harper was making before she left.
“I’m 80 percent sure she was making $162,000 when she left,” Chair Amy Proietti said. “We can’t wait on this. In the interest of moving forward, it’s not important to put data behind (our decision).”
Hollins said comparing superintendent salaries of other districts isn’t always an accurate way to settle on a wage range, because sometimes benefits and other perks are factored in.
Interim Superintendent Judith Houle of The Management Solution said the city will “get what it pays for,” so the range should be competitive. After some discussion, the committee voted on the $155,000 to $175,000 salary range, with benefits and length of contract to be negotiable.
Hollins added that there has to be a competitive salary range to pique candidates’ interest in coming to a rural area.
“You’re just not going to find people making less, but you’ll find them making more,” she said.
The vote to offer the salary range the committee decided upon was unanimous, though Mayor Roxann Wedegartner, who is a School Committee member, had a budget meeting at the same time, so she was not present for the vote.
Reach Anita Fritz at 413-772-9591 or afritz@recorder.com.