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Hiring principals skipped key step

By Staff | May 15, 2012

Barring a mutiny of sorts Monday night, the Nashua Board of Education was poised to hire three new principals to fill vacancies at Amherst and Fairgrounds elementary schools and Pennichuck Middle School.

Each candidate had the recommendation of Superintendent Mark Conrad and each received the unanimous approval of the board’s three-member Human Resources Committee last week.

And should the full board choose to endorse those recommendations, we want to be among the first to congratulate Michael Harrington (Fairgrounds), Lynne Joseph (Pennichuck) and Jennifer Scarpati (Amherst Street) on their new positions.

But we would be remiss if we didn’t express our disappointment with the administration’s decision to forego the public meet-and-greet process that was employed so well the last time the school district faced multiple principal openings.

Four years ago, when the district was looking to fill four vacancies, the administration set up two nights for staff members and the public to meet with the six finalists: three for the opening at Elm Street Middle School and the finalist for each position at the Charlotte Avenue, Ledge Street and Mount Pleasant elementary schools.

For the Elm Street position, staff members had the opportunity to meet with finalists from 4-5:30 p.m. in the school’s media center, while the public’s opportunity took place from 6:30-8 p.m. That process repeated itself two nights later for the other posts in the Nashua High School South cafeteria.

And while the turnout didn’t necessitate moving any of the sessions into Holman Stadium, the estimated 30 people who showed up for both sessions no doubt found it enlightening,.

So why didn’t the district follow a similar track this time around?

Apparently, because neither Conrad nor the school board felt it was necessary, citing the smaller number of qualified candidates and a consensus among the individuals who served on the panel that conducted the interviews.

“In this instance,” Conrad said, “we didn’t feel that was a necessary step.”

That’s unfortunate. For while we would concede that giving parents an opportunity to meet the finalists isn’t “necessary,” we would argue it has monumental benefits on both practical and higher levels.

As demonstrated last time, the meet-and-greet sessions proved to be well-received by everyone involved. That includes the finalists, who acknowledged it helped them to better understand the key issues facing the schools through the eyes of parents and teachers.

Perhaps just as importantly, it sent a wonderful message of inclusion and transparency throughout the school community

To be fair, the Nashua School District has come a long way since it pursued the hiring of Julia Earl as superintendent in 2005 under the cloak of darkness. By and large, it routinely announces the names of finalists for key positions – a practice other communities would be wise to emulate.

Still, it’s difficult to look at the decision not to invite the public to meet with the finalists as anything but a step backward, and we urge the administration and school board to reconsider that decision when making critical hires in the future.

And the hiring of a new principal to replace Jennifer Seusing, who was recently promoted to assistant superintendent, at Nashua High School South would be a pretty good place to start.

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