GREENFIELD — The School Committee has expressed interest in hiring internally for its next superintendent and is eyeing Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Karin Patenaude for the role.
At a special meeting Wednesday evening with the Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MASC), Greenfield School Committee Chair Amy Proietti said she plans to put forward a motion at the committee’s regular meeting next week that would begin the process of appointing Patenaude as the next superintendent, effective July 1, 2024, pending a successful public interview and contract negotiations.
“I don’t want to have a wonderful, unique opportunity slip through our hands with inaction,” Proietti said.
The conversation Wednesday evening followed Superintendent Christine DeBarge’s announcement in August of her intent to retire at the end of the academic year.
“The law says school committees must hire a superintendent,” said MASC Field Director Liz Lafond. “That’s where it stops; it’s very broad.”
She outlined two paths forward for Greenfield, one of which would involve a nationwide search. The committee would have to select a professional firm to work with, which can cost anywhere from $10,500 to $60,000, according to Lafond.
“Any firm you would be interested in hiring, you should be sure of a couple of things: someone will be with you every step of the way, and you don’t pay anybody until you have a successful, negotiated contract with a candidate,” she said.
However, Lafond said MASC typically encourages districts to first consider whether they have a candidate from within that would be suited for the job, rather than engaging in a search process.
“Someone who is internal doesn’t have to spend 90 to 120 days getting to know the players, getting to know folks in the community,” she said. “They literally hit the ground running. They know how your district functions and who within that district makes things happen.”
Hiring internally has always been “a win-win,” Lafond said. It’s a shorter, less expensive process and the candidate hired “is already committed to the work in the district.”
MASC Executive Director Glenn Koocher noted that the candidate pools aren’t as big as they were a year ago, and the district would be competing with Amherst, Easthampton and South Hadley.
“Post-COVID, a lot of people have figured, ‘We’ve gotten through COVID, now I will retire or do something else,’” Koocher added.
Members of the School Committee who had been involved in past superintendent searches echoed the challenges outlined by Lafond and Koocher, namely the time and resources needed to find the right candidate.
“There are multiple meetings every week where you interview candidates,” said member Jean Wall. “You have to have a search committee, which takes a lot of time to put together. If you want to do a search, you really do need to have somebody with a lot of time to spend on the project.”
Koocher said if the committee has a candidate internally that it supports, it should “move forward with confidence.”
DeBarge told committee members she was “supremely confident” Patenaude could do the job. As others had done for DeBarge in her own career, DeBarge said she has worked with Patenaude in a manner so that she would be prepared if interested in pursuing superintendency at some stage.
“As someone who is retiring, it’s a wonderful gift that I have from my family that I can retire at the age I will be … but it’s also sad because there’s so much incredible work happening,” DeBarge said. “To know there is the potential that that would continue without a speed bump is an incredible gift that you folks as a School Committee can give the people who work here.”
Wall said that as a member of the Personnel & Collective Bargaining Subcommittee, she has seen firsthand how DeBarge and Patenaude work as a team.
“Christine … managed to train as many people as possible to go forward,” she said. “I’m sorry it’s without her, but there are many things going on that Karin has been part of. … I can’t praise Karin enough for the job she can do for the schools and what she knows already.”
Prior to serving as assistant superintendent of teaching and learning — a new role created in 2021 — Patenaude was principal of Greenfield High School. She started with the district as an English teacher. After about 14 years with the Greenfield School Department, Patenaude said she’s “very interested” in progressing to the next step in her career.
“That’s where I see my future in education being, and where I’d love to see my career go,” she said. “It’ll fill my heart if I can do it here. I’m truly committed to Greenfield and want to see all the good things we’ve started and the success to come with the work we’ve done.”
Member Susan Eckstrom, who said she’s known Patenaude for at least a decade, told the committee that everything she knows about Patenaude tells her “she is ready for the job.”
“There has been a lot of upheaval as we all know … in the last three years,” she said. “To bring continuity and comfort to the school system of Greenfield and the community that embraces it is an extraordinary thing for us to be able to do. I see that in being able to have Karin as our next superintendent.”
Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne.