SAUGUS — Two of four superintendent finalists were publicly interviewed Tuesday night during a virtual Saugus School Committee meeting.
Frank Tiano, current superintendent of the Uxbridge Public Schools, and Eric Tracy, principal of Hamilton-Wenham Regional High School, were given an hour and a half each to lay out their plans for the district and to answer questions posed by School Committee members and parents.
Last Thursday, the School Committee voted, 5-0, to accept a screening subcommittee’s recommendations of four finalists. The public interviews represent one of the final stages of the district’s search to replace Saugus Superintendent, Dr. David DeRuosi, who plans to retire when his contract expires June 30.
The other two finalists, Dr. Margaret Ferrick, deputy superintendent for the Southbridge Public Schools, and Erin McMahon, senior advisor to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education commissioner, were scheduled to be interviewed during a second committee meeting Wednesday.
The new superintendent will be voted on by the Saugus School Committee within the coming weeks.
“We had a terrific screening committee that was very well-balanced and represented the concerns of the entire community,” School Committee and Superintendent Screening subcommittee member Ryan Fisher said last Sunday. “They worked tirelessly over the past few weeks to put together a list of four outstanding leaders and we’re excited to introduce them to the community.”
When asked how he would organize the district as it enters a new grade configuration for the 2021-22 school year, Tiano, who also served as superintendent of the Chelmsford Public Schools from 2010 to 2015, said the most crucial part of restructuring would be formulating a cohesive plan in line with educational standards to ensure equitable learning throughout the district.
“It starts overall with our strategic plan and where we worked as a community with all stakeholders to identify the levers that we believe will help move our student achievement forward,” Tiano said. “That’s the most important thing.”
Having a good plan means understanding that Saugus’ curriculum needs to be rigorous and tied to state standards, he said. It also requires teachers who are engaged with students and have the skills to improve the district’s instructional core across the board.
“You need to have vertical coherence in terms of the curriculum that is in line with the standards, and you need to have horizontal coherence,” he said, citing grade 3 as an example. “As you folks are restructuring, all grade 3 teachers will be working together, ensuring that we have equity and that our students in grade 3 have a similar experience across the board, engaging with the curriculum that is tied to the standards.”
Part of the effort would include identifying areas of low student achievement and identifying whether or not the district’s curriculum meets all necessary standards. If it doesn’t, Tiano, who said he considers social media and communication to be one of his strengths, said he would look at the district’s curriculum review process.
“In Uxbridge, we just developed a five-year curriculum plan when there wasn’t (a plan) previously,” he said. “We know, as a district, that we have curriculum adoptions to review.
“This year we’re getting a new math program, and that’s been two years of work identifying where the holes of our student achievement are, and … where our growth scores were low as well. The program we were using we felt was not aligned, and therefore, in our budgeting, we knew we were going for a new math curriculum, so we will have a grant for the training for all of our staff as well.”
He later added: “The key there is that these decisions were made with our teachers.”
Tracy, who also served as principal of Wilmington High School from 2004 to 2013, suggested a “build from the ground up” approach when it comes to the district’s restructuring and subsequent curriculum development plans.
“You’ve got to look at it from a number of perspectives,” Tracy said. “You don’t just drop curriculum in. You start really at ground level with teachers to see where they’re at, and you start to help them identify things that are important, like the standards, and you work with those standards to develop curriculum units.”
He said conversations with students and with teachers would be an important part of identifying needs inside the classroom, which would ultimately serve to bring curriculum to where it should be.
“It’s important to get it down on paper and really start to help people understand how they work with that curriculum and how that curriculum has to be dynamic. Curriculum always has to move. You have all these opportunities to change as fast as things are changing in the world,” Tracy said. “There needs to be a strong curriculum plan that includes supplies, includes things needed in the classroom. Curriculum on paper is nothing unless teachers have the tools they need for success.”
Curriculum needs to be “student-centered,” Tracy said, later adding that his current role as a principal has allowed him to be hands-on in his district.
“I think it’s important to be out in the buildings every day. There’s no reason you can’t stop at a building for a half-hour and say ‘hi’ and see what’s going on,” he said. “That’s part of what I do well, and I think people in my district would tell you they see me everywhere.
“They see me at the elementary schools, at the middle school, at the high school. I’m in after-school programs, because those are the things I’m curious about, and we can’t build a high-quality system without everybody.”
All four finalists’ resumes are available for viewing at: https://www.nesdec.org/SaugusSuptFinalistResumes/.
Elyse Carmosino can be reached at [email protected].
