The School Committee voted last Thursday at its meeting to employ the Collins Center from the University of Massachusetts-Boston to assist in the search for a new superintendent of schools.
At the same time, the Committee put an aggressive timeline on the search, looking to have a candidate chosen by July 1.
New Committee Chair Rich Maronski said they felt the Collins Center did a good job with the City Manager search a few years ago. He said they plan to have a retreat meeting with the Center this week to understand the search parameters and to get things started.
Supt. Mary Bourque announced in late December that she planned on retiring in one year’s time, putting a date of December 2019 as her final month. She has pledged to stay on to help with the search and to acclimate any new candidate to the job through next fall.
City Manager Tom Ambrosino said he was sad to see Bourque go, but is encouraged by the Committee’s quick action on the Collins Center.
“Selfishly, I’m sad because Superintendent Bourque has done a tremendous job as leader of the Chelsea School System, and her and I had a very productive partnership,” he said. “However, she is certainly deserving of her well-earned retirement. As for the search, I was pleased to hear that the School Committee has agreed both to hire the UMass Collins Center to help with the search for a successor, and to hire a Superintendent for July 1 so that the person will be able to work together with Mary for the first six months to establish a smooth transition.”
More information on the start of the search and the process is expected by next week, Maronski said.