Staff Writer
NORTHAMPTON - Just three days after it was announced that longtime Superintendent of Schools Isabelina Rodriguez had been tapped to head up Granby's school system, School Committee members discussed the ongoing search for her replacement and a special meeting next Tuesday with a third-party consultant.
At a School Committee meeting Thursday night, Vice Chairwoman Stephanie Pick said that Superintendent Search Committee members had selected the Marlborough-based New England School Development Council to help in finding a replacement for Rodriguez, who spent the last seven years as Northampton's schools chief.
Members did not publicly discuss Rodriguez's anticipated departure date, but when she announced her resignation, she had said it was effective in June.
Meanwhile, also Thursday night, the Granby School Committee unanimously approved a three-year and five-month contract with Rodriguez.
Still unresolved is the issue of exactly when Rodriguez will begin work in Granby. School Committee members are hoping she will start on Jan. 31.
After meeting in executive session with Rodriguez, the board approved a contract that sets her annual salary at $132,000, with a review in 17 months, according to School Committee Chair Deborah Buckley.
The position had been advertised as paying between $120,000 and $140,000 annually. Rodriguez earns $113,000 in Northampton.
Rodriguez will replace Patricia Stevens, who is retiring as Granby school superintendent in February after more than eight years in the position.
Superintendent search plans
Earlier this month, Northampton search committee members met with representatives from NESDEC and the Massachusetts Association of School Committees and heard hourlong presentations from each organization about how they would move forward with the superintendent search.
The next step in the search process, Pick said, is to hold a School Committee workshop at JFK Middle School this Tuesday featuring a presentation from a NESDEC representative.
"Representatives from NESDEC will come to us and we will have the initial discussion with them about how this process should proceed," Pick said. "They will let us know what the time line will look like and we can let them know some of the qualities we are looking for in our next superintendent."
The workshop, which will be held in the school's Community Room from 6:15 to 8:15 p.m., is open to the public and will be aired on Northampton Community Television.
Pick said NESDEC representatives are working on a draft of the contract to be presented to potential applicants and plan on preparing an informational brochure containing facts about the city of Northampton and figures from its various public schools. Then, using input gathered from a series of focus groups, Pick said NESDEC representatives will begin their search for the individual they think best fits the needs of Northampton schools.
"They are looking to get a lot of public opinion that outlines the type of traits and qualifications that the public wants to see in a superintendent."
NESDEC, a private, not-for-profit educational organization with over 300 school districts as affiliates, was founded in 1946 at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, according to the organization's website.
The organization's mission, according to the site, is "helping schools and their districts become high-performance organizations by providing assistance to school boards in recruiting and selecting the very best leaders for their communities."
For more information about NESDEC, residents are encouraged to visit the nonprofit's website: www.nesdec.org.
Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com
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