Concord School District Superintendent Search Suspended

CONCORD, NH — The Concord School District has decided to temporarily suspend its search for a new school superintendent after two candidates, who made it through the final screening process, withdrew their nominations.

Jennifer Patterson, the president of the Concord Board of Education, announced the suspension Thursday. Some board members along with the New England School Development Council have held meetings and been interviewing potential candidates since January. Two candidates, who had reached the final stages of the screening process, withdrew their applications "citing a commitment to stay with their current districts and see their students, staff, and school community safely through the COVID-19 pandemic," Patterson said.

Seventeen candidates, she said, were reviewed between February and April for the job. After "deep research" about five, the candidates were narrowed to two, Patterson said.

"The Concord School Board was fortunate to have a chance to interview (virtually) the two candidates that the Screening Committee put forth," she said. "We were impressed with both of them, and (looked) forward to presenting them to the community for the final phase of the search process."

Patterson thanked the hundreds of people who were involved in surveys, community needs assessments, and focus groups during the search process. She also thanked Tom Croteau and Danielle Smith, both board members as well as Jack Dunn, the district's business administrator, for their work.

On May 4, Patch twice requested the names of the finalists after the board interviewed both candidates remotely, calling them "finalists," and then sealed their names from the public and the press — an unprecedented action when considering past hires at this level. The names of previous finalists for upper level administrative jobs such as superintendent, principal, and assistant principal are nearly always released to the public and the press. Patterson, however, rejected the request stating that the stage of the interview process by the board was still in its confidential phase.

On Thursday, Patterson reiterated that the names would not be released to the public.

Moving forward, the board will develop "a plan of action" to "restart the search process in the months to come," Patterson said.

The district began searching for a new superintendent after the termination of Terri Forsten in 2019 in the wake of the Primo "Howie" Leung teacher-student rape case scandal. Forsten, who lives in East Concord, led SAU 8 for nearly four years. She was nominated and then unnominated for a curriculum administrator job in Amherst in April.

Franklyn Bass, the current interim superintendent, did not return an email seeking comment on how long he would be willing to stay on. His contract expires at the end of October.

Got a news tip? Send it to tony.schinella@patch.com. View videos on Tony Schinella's YouTube channel.