Danvers Superintendent Search Screening Committee Set

DANVERS, MA — The search for a new superintendent of Danvers Public Schools remains on pace to be concluded early next year with the selection of a screening committee to review applicants and select semifinals for the position.

The screening committee, which was set to include two School Committee members, the president of the Danvers Teachers Association, three parents, three teachers, one central office staff member, one principal, one support staff member and one community member, will hold its first meeting on Nov. 30 and is set to review superintendent applications from Dec. 12 to Dec. 20.

"We took this very seriously," Campbell said at Monday night's School Committee meeting. "We spent a lot of time reviewing all the (screening committee) applications that came through. We appreciate everyone who did submit an application.

"If you are not on the list there are still going to be opportunities for superintendent candidates to meet and engage among the community and the district."

The initial screening of applications will be confidential with only the names of those candidates who advance to semifinalist status then released and made available to the public for confidentiality reasons. Along with meeting with school staff and stakeholders, Doherty suggested a "student roundtable" at the high school be included in a tour of those in serious contention to be the next leader of the district.

"It's important to remember too that people can, whether based on the interviews that you see that we film, or you come and watch them, or you get to meet them in some type of community forum, you can email Ms. Campbell and me to say: 'I am in support of this candidate,'" Doherty said. "Because we are here to represent the voice of Danvers — the whole voice — that's how it's supposed to be."

Under the current timeline, which remains consistent from earlier this fall, a vote on the next superintendent could be held at the Jan. 26 School Committee meeting with the possibility that holiday delays and conflicts could push that vote off until early February.

The permanent superintendent to replace Acting Superintendent Mary Wermers is set to begin serving the district under contract as of July 1, 2023.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)