Interim Superintendent Search Begins

With Superintendent Joan Landers' departure from the Wakefield School Department coming up on July 31st, the Wakefield School Committee has started working to find an interim Superintendent to take over until a permanent candidate can be found. 

In their May 24th meeting, members of the Wakefield School Committee presented and disucssed ten characteristics they are looking for in an interim superintendent.

What the Committee is looking for

The desired candidate for the interim superintendent job would be a retired or recently retired former superintendent, the committee agreed.

"The role of the interim is to steer the ship," said Chairman Tom Markham. "He or she should make sure we as a school district stay on track."

Lisa Butler said she thought it would be best to preclude anyone who is currently an assistant superintendent.

"We need someone without a learning curve," she said. "With us focusing on a full search, I think that’s going to be really important; to have someone that we can trust to be in charge with epxerince who has done this before."

The full list of qualifications is as follows:

• Current/prior experience as a Massachusetts superintendent,
• Current licensure as a superintendent in Massachusetts,
• Recent experience in school building construction in Massachusetts,
• Experience with mentoring and supervising recently appointed, first/second year senior level district administrators and principals,
• A credible background in curriculum development and professional development,
• Experience in programmatic supervision and leadership in special education, Title I, and technology intergration,
• A current understanding of the new MA Educator Evaluation System,
• Available on or before August 1, 2012,
• Salary range of $100,000 to $125,000. 

Next Steps
These characteristics will be presented to the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, which has hundreds of resumes on file and assists in superintendent searches. The MASC will then return a list of 8-10 names that fit the specific charateristics and qualifications desired by the Wakefield School Committee.