MONTAGUE — Although Tuesday evening was supposed to be dedicated to picking the Gill-Montague Regional School District’s next superintendent, the School Committee instead declared that it no longer has two viable finalists.
Pending successful contract negotiations, one finalist, Brian Ricca, accepted the job as superintendent at Southern Berkshire Regional School District, where he has served as interim superintendent since August 2025, and the remaining candidate, Marc Gosselin Jr., will not be interviewed as the only finalist, per guidance from Gill-Montague’s legal counsel based on existing case law. The School Committee voted unanimously to declare that Ricca and Gosselin are non-viable candidates, and the next scheduled meeting will be dedicated to assessing options for reopening the search.
A rift arose as School Committee Chair Jane Oakes explained that Ricca communicated to Massachusetts Association of School Committees Field Director for Central Massachusetts Tracy Novick, who has been helping the district conduct its search since last fall, that he had accepted the job at Southern Berkshire, but he still wanted to be considered for the Gill-Montague job while his contract negotiations are ongoing.
Novick said that as of Tuesday, there is no further information on the status of Ricca’s negotiations with Southern Berkshire, and from her experience, these first contracts can take up to a month to finalize. According to the Southern Berkshire Regional School District School Committee agenda for Thursday, Feb. 26, the committee will be entering an executive session to prepare to begin superintendent negotiations.
However, citing guidance from the school district’s legal counsel, Oakes explained that search committees are advised to present two candidates for School Committee interviews in open session, which the Superintendent Search Committee did.
“If, in effect, you only have one candidate, then it really means that your search committee has chosen your superintendent,” Oakes explained, “and that is not allowed under the law. So not their fault, not our fault, but it puts us in an odd position.”
At the start of this month, Gosselin and Ricca were the two finalists put forward by the Superintendent Search Committee. Both have administrative and teaching experience. The district began the search with the help of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees in the fall following the resignation of former Superintendent Brian Beck and the appointment of interim Superintendent Tari Thomas. The Superintendent Search Committee received eight applications and conducted four interviews before selecting Gosselin and Ricca as the finalists.
Novick explained that an option for moving forward would be to release both candidates from consideration, which would leave two avenues open: either reopen applications, which may produce the same pool of original candidates; or maintain the interim superintendent for half a year or a full year, then reopen applications in the fall. She clarified that she will continue working with the district to further the search.
After they discussed offering Ricca a timeline to decide if he’s going to still interview with Gill-Montague, and School Committee members expressed that Ricca’s acceptance at Southern Berkshire is enough of an answer to Gill-Montague that he has made his decision, members opted to deem both candidates inviable.
“I think that all of us pretty much agree that we don’t really have two viable candidates,” School Committee member Steve Ellis said. He added, “None of this is intended in any way to be a slight to Dr. Gosselin, who may be a fabulous candidate.”
“[It’s] circumstances beyond your control,” Novick said.
The next School Committee meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 10.