LYNN — Three candidates seeking to become Lynn Public Schools’ deputy superintendent were interviewed Wednesday by a committee of Lynn Public Schools officials. 

The three interviewees showed promise in individual 30- to 45-minute interviews, where their skills as leaders and managers of their own departments shone brightly. Throughout all three interviews, the importance of accessibility, variability, attendance, and cultural inclusivity rang clear, but each candidate also added their own lens. 

Brian Marques, senior director of Opportunity Youth, a department within Boston Public Schools, shared his experience and perspective in his field, highlighting his mission to bring more opportunities to struggling youth. 

Marques shared a strong motivation for students who lack access to basic needs, such as a permanent address. He discussed the impact homelessness has had on student enrollment. 

“We had about 12% of our students experiencing homelessness last year,” Marques said. “We identified 5,000 students experiencing homelessness in the district.” 

To address this challenge, which many students have been facing, Marques introduced new protocols for instructors and the department to implement in their teaching. One of those internal tactics has been creating stronger connections and communication between the teachers and students. 

“The day-to-day experiences in having those conversations with students, families, with staff, with teachers, the better positions we are in to actually understand the true and underlying challenges and where we should allocate resources and time and look to improve people’s practice,” Marques said. 

Julie Louf, principal of Breed Middle School, brought her experience as a special education teacher in Lynn Public Schools to the table, highlighting the importance of raising expectations and challenging students to be the best version of themselves. 

Louf shared her motivation to push students toward their potential rather than allowing them to coast along with no academic challenges. One practice she adopted was implementing a new level of accountability to create clearer expectations for students and teachers. 

“One of the things we’ve had to push during my time at Breed is all around inclusion and making sure students are in the least restrictive environment, whenever possible, and if that means a small group learning teacher goes into a mainstream classroom with their group of students, that’s what we did,” Louf said. 

The negative implications of non-inclusive class content and experiences have been a worry of Louf’s for some time, and as principal, she has referenced data of Lynn students’ numbers dropping. 

“If students aren’t challenged in their classes, they’re going to start not coming to school, right?” Louf said. “We’re going to see an increase in chronic absenteeism if they’re not known, if they’re not valued, and that’s really what it’s all about.” 

Deborah Ibanez, executive director of student support services at Haverhill Public Schools, touched on her experience of having to make tough decisions for the betterment of students when necessary. 

One mission Ibanez has been on as a representative for students in special education was changing the curriculum to be more inclusive to students, ensuring they receive the same level of education as general education students receive, and part of that is retraining special education teachers.

“So the teachers have to stay after school for two hours… looking at the curriculum and making sure that everybody’s on the scope and sequence,” Ibanez said. “It’s a way to continue to move the curriculum and just make sure that all teachers are doing what they’re supposed to be doing.” 

Another practice Ibanez has begun to implement into Haverhill’s public school department is creating more opportunities for paraprofessionals with marginalized backgrounds to become teachers in hard-to-fill subject areas in the Haverhill area. 

“If they have a bachelor’s degree, then we put them through an interview process… we do 10 of those per year,” Ibanez said. “We put them through Merrimack College for a two-year master’s program… and we recently added math because we can’t find enough math teachers… but we guarantee them a job, as well as let them stay in their current job… so they’re still getting paid.” 

All three candidates offered different perspectives on why they would be the best fit for the position, and now it’s up to the committee to choose who best meets Lynn’s needs.