By Carol Britton Meyer

The school committee is seeking parents, students, school staff, and representatives from the community to join the recently-created committee to perform the initial review of applications for the superintendent of schools.

Current Superintendent Judith Kuehn will retire at the end of this school year; the new superintendent is expected to be named in early 2024, with an anticipated start date of July 1.

The New England School Development Council will facilitate the search process at a cost of $13,760. The final hiring decision rests with the school committee.

Member Kyle Conley and other school officials are working closely with NESDEC with the goal of a thorough and inclusive search process.

“We want to be sure the screening committee is made up of people with lots of different perspectives and levels of expertise,” she said.

School committee members will not be represented on the screening committee, which will make its recommendations to the school committee. The screening committee may also include a member from the select board and the advisory board.

Conley this week outlined significant steps in the process:

⦁ Tuesday, Oct. 10: During the regularly scheduled school committee meeting, NESDEC representative Dr. Margaret Frieswyk will provide an orientation of the search process “from beginning to end,” Conley explained. “This will be a big part of the agenda, and the public is welcome to attend.”

Frieswyk “is optimistic that we will have some fantastic candidates, because Hull is a very desirable district to work in,” according to Conley.

⦁ Thursday, Oct. 19: Frieswyk will lead focus groups in Hull to gather input from parents, principals, teachers, and community members. More information will be available at a later date.

“We want to make the process as inclusive as possible,” Conley said. “There will be lots of opportunities for those wishing to offer their insights about what they think the profile and skills of our next superintendent [should look like].” An online survey will be available during the week of Oct. 19.

• The school committee’s Monday, Oct. 23 meeting was canceled and replaced with a meeting the evening of Oct. 19, at which time Frieswyk will share a summary of the information and input gained from the focus groups throughout the day. Then the school committee will provide input. This also is a public meeting.

“This won’t be a time for us to discuss the feedback but to listen, add our thoughts, and make sure we have an inclusive candidate profile,” Conley said. The window for submitting applications is Oct. 30 to Nov. 27.

“Casting a wide net is fantastic,” school committee member Ernest Minelli said. “Hopefully we will have an abundance of applicants.”

In response to Minelli asking Conley what her “best sales pitch” for seeking screening committee members might be, she responded: “We’re looking for a group of people to listen to the profile information gathered on Oct. 19 and to do the first look-through [of the applications and resumes from] those wishing to be our next superintendent. We’re seeking members who will be available on the dates the screening committee is scheduled to meet and who have the interest and commitment to finding the next great leader of our schools.”

The screening committee is scheduled to meet in late November into early December to review resumes, with interviews by the school committee with the initial candidates recommended by the screening committee planned for between Dec. 11 and 15.

On Jan. 2, the school committee will receive an orientation prior to interviews with the final candidates, which will take place between Jan. 8 and 12.

Conley asked the school committee and members of the community to mark their calendars with these dates and to share them with others who are interested in participating in the process.

Do you have an opinion on this issue? Click here to write a Letter to the Editor.