Franklin School Committee News

This is the 2nd issue of the newsletter from the Franklin School Committee Community Relations Sub-Committee. As a reminder, our committee has three members: Denise Schultz (Chair), Anne Bergen and Vanessa Bilello.

As part of our mission, we are looking for ways to communicate more effectively with our community members and stakeholders. We hope you'll take a moment to read our updates and let us know what you think!

This newsletter is a collaborative effort from Denise, Anne and Vanessa. It does not express the views of the full School Committee.

Our focus this month is to share the process to date on the search for a new Superintendent, and the next steps. As always, we appreciate and look forward to your input and feedback.

The full School Committee is engaged in the process of selecting our new Superintendent.

To view the leadership profile and job description please visit our website here.

The candidate resumes will be posted under "District News" on our school committee website homepage as soon as they are available. Please visit here.

We'd like to review our process so far and the next steps:

1. In the fall, a consulting firm (HYA) was hired to facilitate the process.

2. Focus groups were interviewed including teachers, parents, students, principals and school committee members. An open community forum was held and a survey sent out to the entire community.

3. From focus groups and all input, a leadership profile was put together highlighting our attributes for our new superintendent:

• Instructional leadership
  
• Articulate
  
• Collaborative with all stakeholders
  
• Visible in schools and community
  
• Innovative and engaging
  

4. Five finalists were presented based on the feedback from focus groups and surveys.

5. The school committee along with teacher, principal, parent and town official representatives interviewed four candidates (one withdrew).

6. Based on the results of this round of interviews, three finalists were selected to come back for site visits.

7. Each candidate will visit our community on three separate days. Blocks of times have been set aside for key groups to meet with and interact with each candidate (central office and Jeff Nutting, principals and faculty). All individuals who participate in these meetings will be invited to provide feedback through a Google Docs survey. A sign up sheet will be supplied at all group meetings. The schedule with the times outlined was sent out to all school personnel so they would know exactly when and where the meetings will be held.

8. The community is invited to meet each candidate on Monday evening, January 30 from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. in the Town Council Chambers at the Town Hall. Press releases were sent out inviting the community to attend. Finalists’ resumes will be posted on the School Committee website.

9. Based on all the feedback we receive, we are hoping to have a preferred candidate emerge by February 7.

January 24, 2017

February 14, 2017

February 28, 2017

March 14, 2017

March 28, 2017

April 11, 2017

April 25, 2017

May 9, 2017

May 23, 2017

June 13, 2017

June 27, 2017

We have enjoyed meeting many of you at our monthly coffee meetings! Think of these coffee meetings as our "office hours" to come and discuss broad school-related issues with us. We synthesize your ideas and/or concerns, and have them addressed through the appropriate channel and will do our best to have them updated at a future presentation at a school committee meeting. We ask that you do not bring concerns about a particular student to these meetings. The meetings are a group conversation and have been quite productive. Stay tuned for more opportunities for engagement in the coming months!

Join us:

Wednesday, February 1, 2017, 7 pm

Saturday, March 4, 2017, 9 am

Location will be the conference room at the Franklin TV studio (23 Hutchinson Street) unless otherwise communicated. We post our coffee dates and locations in all local papers.

We welcome your input - in person at one of our monthly "coffee" meetings, or via email. You can reach us at the following addresses:

Denise Schultz: schultzd@franklin.k12.ma.us

Anne Bergen: bergena@franklin.k12.ma.us

Vanessa Bilello: bilellov@franklin.k12.ma.us

Email: schultzd@franklin.k12.ma.us
Website: http://franklinschool.vt-s.net/Pages/index
Phone: 508-612-5950