Districts Hire for Controversial Post

Two local school districts recently announced the hiring of a shared METCO director.

Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School and Sudbury Public Schools superintendents Scott Carpenter and John Brackett, respectively, selected Fhynita Brinson, who most recently served as Wakefield's director, to run the desegregation program that buses more than 150 Boston students annually to the two districts.

The school committees' decision to consolidate the high school's full-time director and Sudbury's part-time director into one position drew criticism from METCO administrators, students and parents in recent months. However, the hiring process went smoothly, according to Brackett.

"Once the decision was made, the hiring process was pretty effective and well done," he said .

The districts received 125 applicants for the new position, which pays $93,500, the same wage of the former high school director. Eight candidates were then picked to be interviewed, with Brinson, a former social worker, and Reading's METCO director, Jesenia Castro, emerging as finalists.

The two women met with METCO students and their parents and school staff at a recent public forum in Boston, before final interviews with the schools' superintendents.

Brackett said he and Carpenter mutually agreed to hire Brinson.

"(Brinson) comes highly recommended by the superintendent from Wakefield and the staff and administrators in the Wakefield Public Schools," according to a release from the districts. "She has a six-year track record of building a strong program through collaboration with the faculty and outreach to parents. We are sure (Brinson) will bring these strengths to benefit students in the Sudbury schools and Lincoln-Sudbury when she starts … on August 1."

Brinson has led Wakefield's METCO program since 2004. Before that, she was a resident counselor for the Teen Living Program of the Family Service of Greater Boston and a social worker for the Department of Child and Family Services in Boston. She has also worked for the Steppingstone Foundation, an educational nonprofit, and Boston Public Schools.

Brinson completed her undergraduate work at the University of Massachusetts at Boston and received a master's in social work from Simmons College.

The Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO) is a state-funded voluntary program that allows minority students in Boston and Springfield to attend school in 37 designated suburbs.

Critics of the consolidated position, including METCO's executive director, Jean McGuire, believed each district needed its own director to better connect with students. Proponents of the change, including both superintendents and the majority of school committee members, said the savings would fund added tutors and academic advisors for METCO students.