SAUGUS –The search for a new superintendent of schools has entered a new phase.
The New England School Development Council (NESDEC) has been given the nod by the School Committee to lead the search for a replacement for Dr. David DeRuosi, who has announced his retirement effective June 30, when his contract with the town expires.
The board voted unanimously last Tuesday to hire NESDEC after hearing pitches from the Marlborough-based firm, the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, and McPherson & Jacobson, a recruitment and placement agency based in Nebraska.
NESDEC Executive Director Art Bettencourt told the committee that the organization has completed more than 600 searches for executives across New England, and assured members that when searching for a superintendent, the firm would design a plan that fits the community’s needs.
“We consider this to be your search,” he told the committee. “One of the first things we would do is sit down with you and design the various search elements, show you how those roll out in a timeline, and work very hard to design a search that meets your needs.”
Part of the search will include reaching out to stakeholders through focus groups, interviews, and surveys to create a candidate profile, he said. The School Committee will then review the data with NESDEC to determine which skills and characteristics the ideal candidate should possess.
“The search actually is a search that you design with our assistance,” Bettencourt said.
First appointed in 2016, DeRuosi, a 34-year veteran of public education, has served alongside two Saugus school boards and overseen the district’s ambitious middle-high school project that was completed earlier this year.
He is the town’s fifth superintendent since 2012.
“We do not have a strategic plan, we do not have a School Improvement plan, and in listening to (NESDEC’s) presentation, they have worked with other communities and other districts in developing those things,” board member Arthur Grabowski said as to why he supported hiring NESDEC for the search. “(Based on) the demographics they have worked (with), I think they would provide a much larger pool of information for us in terms of what our needs are, and then tailoring what our needs are to what our expectations are.”
Committee member John Hatch said he was happy NESDEC did not necessarily require candidates for the position to have a PhD to be considered for hiring.
“I like the face they’re not looking for a specific mindset, like (if a superintendent) needs to have a doctorate,” he said. “Some of the finest superintendents I’ve met have come from being principals and knowing the community.”
Committee members Ryan Fisher and Dennis Gould, who will serve on the superintendent search committee, said they would reach out to NESDEC to discuss expanding the committee.
Gould said it would cost the School Department just under $14,000 to hire NESDEC.
