Brookline School Committee To Begin Interim Superintendent Search

BROOKLINE, MA — Just days after Superintendent of Brookline Andrew Bott told the School Committee he was resigning, the committee discussed next steps at a meeting Monday night at Town Hall. The committee plans to have a job description posted online and emailed to the community for an interim superintendent by mid week.

"Please, anyone who knows anyone who might be interested in the interim superintendent position, we will have it posted, please share it everywhere with everyone," said School Committee Chairperson Julie Schreiner-Oldham.

During the public back and forth about finding a temporary replacement for superintendent Bott, School Committee members said they wanted to make sure the process was open and transparent. They expressed a desire to not pull a "bait and switch," when it came to managing applicant expectations on duration of the post. In light of that, they chose to limit the term for an interim superintendent, specifying that the interim candidate would not be considered for the permanent position.

Committee members were also concerned that they would not get a large or diverse applicant pool and solicited comments from parents present as to what they thought might help.

After the meeting parents said they were pleased with the way the meeting was conducted and expressed a desire that committee members continue to include the public and solicit ideas from them.

The announcement that Bott is retiring after only three years came as a surprise to many. He leaves Brookline as the district is working on negotiating contentious teacher contracts, finding enough space to accommodate rising enrollment after the town voted down a plan to build a ninth elementary, and a renovation of the high school.

The application for interim superintendent will be posted until the end of the first week in August. After that, a subcommittee of four including David Pearlman, Suzanne Federspiel, Jennifer Monopoli and Helen Charlupski will go through first applicants and make recommendations to the full committee. Once one or two finalists are chosen from that group the process will be opened up to the public once again.

More from the meeting:

School Committee officials met for a closed door, executive session at 5 p.m. to conduct a strategy session in preparation for negotiations with the superintendent of schools, according to a school committee agenda. When they returned from that meeting, Schreiner-Oldham said it went smoothly.

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Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).