NORTHFIELD — As the Pioneer Superintendent Search Subcommittee narrowed its search down to three candidates earlier this week, the names of at least one of the candidates was leaked to the Northfield community.
During the Pioneer Valley Regional School District School Committee’s public comment portion of Thursday’s meeting, Northfield Selectboard member Mary Bowen mentioned that her board would like to hold a public forum with the three candidates. The revelation that people outside the committee knew of the search process was met with disappointment by the School Committee and Interim Superintendent Patricia Kinsella because members of the search subcommittee signed confidentiality agreements in regard to the search process until information was brought to the full committee.
“Mary made note that there are three people moving forward in the superintendent search process,” said Kinsella, who is a finalist candidate. “I do not understand how it is possible that a member of a town Selectboard would know the number of candidates moving forward in the process, when I, myself, was notified four hours ago. I note this as a concern.”
After Kinsella spoke, Bowen said “the whole town knows” about the process in some form or another.
“I didn’t get it from the Selectboard, I got it from the town’s citizens,” Bowen said.
Reached by phone Friday, Bowen said a member of the subcommittee “announced (the candidates) before they handed out the confidentiality” agreements.
“It wasn’t a secret, the fact that they acted so shocked last night, shocked me,” Bowen said. “For them to backpedal … it was really, really silly of them to do that on camera.”
Reached by phone late Friday afternoon, Michele Giarusso, chair of the Superintendent Search Subcommittee, refuted Bowen’s account, saying the confidentiality agreements were signed during the very first meeting of the subcommittee.
“That is not what happened,” Giarusso said. “(Administrative Assistant) Joanne Wallace handed that confidentiality agreement to everyone and everyone signed it. We didn’t do it on the second meeting like an afterthought. … They were collected and they should be with the administrative assistant at PVRSD.”
Bowen emphasized that she had no part in the superintendent search process and was only at Thursday’s School Committee meeting to request an open forum be held for the finalists.
Giarusso said earlier Friday that it was her responsibility to inform each candidate personally and it was disheartening to see their process undermined.
“I was very disappointed,” Giarusso said by phone Friday morning. “Let us do our job to bring the candidates forward and not give out names prior to a personal phone call.”
She said the subcommittee’s instruction was clear and members did their job, but information had gotten out after the April 12 subcommittee meeting.
“The search committee was not instructed to go beyond narrowing the search down to as many candidates as they wanted,” Giarusso said. “That was the process.”
School Committee Chair Julie Burke expressed disappointment at the leak, saying she was “embarrassed and sad” that Kinsella had only just learned about her advancement in the process while the greater community already knew.
“We hold ourselves to a high integrity and we expect that of the members who join us,” Burke said. “I’m not sure where the breakdown is, but I want it to stop immediately.”
The School Committee voted to hold open forum s with each of the three finalists on May 3 and will hold deliberations the same night. Times have not yet been finalized. In the meantime, members of the committee will organize site visits to each school in the district with the finalists.
The School Committee will continue Thursday’s meeting next week at 7 p.m. in Pioneer Valley Regional School’s library.
Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.