Saugus school board discusses super search job posting details

SAUGUS – The search for a new superintendent kicked off in Saugus Friday afternoon, as the School Committee met to update the job posting for the position.Superintendent Richard Langlois was named superintendent of the Marlborough School District last month after five years in Saugus. On Friday the committee looked at the previous job posting to see what changes they wanted to make.”What we need to do is decide if we want to keep the same job description or add,” said Chairman Wendy Reed. “The most important thing we ever do is appoint a superintendent ? We had some really good applicants but they just weren’t a good fit for Saugus.”Reed noted the last time the job was advertised the committee asked the superintendent be certified, have a minimum of 10 years experience and a doctorate was preferred but not necessary.School Committee member Joe Malone said he thought the original advertisement “looks great” since it attracted Langlois.”I say it’s a winning proposition. Why not use it again?” he said.Reed said the committee still has to discuss an appointment date and a starting date at a later time.”We’re not putting this out until we have a letter of resignation,” said Reed, who noted the last search took around four months.Langlois said he’s “working on it,” but noted July 1 is a typical start date.Committee members also discussed where to advertise, whether to use a consultant for the search and whether to list a salary range for the position.Committee member Frederick Doucette said the last time they advertised “commensurate with experience” for a salary, the committee didn’t receive many applications.”Be forewarned we didn’t get much interest with that advertised,” he said. “I know the second time we put it out we had to put a number. I don’t mind, but that’s going to be something we might have to look at.”Langlois was due to make $153,000 in 2013-14.Reed said it cost $5,300 for the last superintendent search, which the committee did on its own. A consultant could cost up to $30,000.”I’d be more than happy to do it ourselves and have complete control over the situation,” said committee member Arthur Grabowski.The committee voted to have Reed advertise the job once a letter of resignation is submitted.In other business, Reed said she was expecting to have an update on the audit into the high school and middle school student activity accounts, however, she told the committee auditors need two more weeks.”Hopefully we’ll have something by our next School Committee meeting,” she said.Finance Director Pola Andrews then requested an executive session meeting with the committee for “general privacy.”The School Committee is to meet again Feb. 28.Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].