Somerville 3 Superintendent Candidates Begin Public Interviews Monday

SOMERVILLE, MA — The three candidates for the Somerville Public Schools superintendent position will be taking part in community meetings and public interviews on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.

At a special meeting on Jan. 30, the Somerville School Committee announced that it had narrowed the pool of 27 applicants down to three finalists: Jannell D. Pearson-Campbell, interim superintendent of Northampton Public Schools, Kevin McCaskill, assistant superintendent of secondary schools for Boston Public Schools, and Marisa Mendonsa, deputy superintendent of Pittsfield Public Schools.

The school committee said it seeks to select a new superintendent by March.

As part of the process, each of the candidates will be participating in two public forums this week, Pearson-Campbell on Monday, McCaskill on Tuesday and Mendonsa on Wednesday.

From 4:30 p.m. to 5:15, that day's candidate will be part of an in-person meeting with community members at the City Hall chambers, located at 93 Highland Ave. The meetings also will be broadcast on Somerville City TV.

Then, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., that day's candidate will participate in an in-person public school committee interview at City Hall chambers. Those interviews also will be broadcast on City Cable TV. There will be interpretation of the meeting available on Zoom, for which the Meeting ID is 863 8166 0184, Password: SPSSC23.

Members of the community —parents, guardians and staff — who meet the candidates or watch the interviews are encouraged to provide feedback. Feedback forms are available in English Spanish, Portuguese and Haitian Creole.

Here is more information about the candidates:

• Pearson-Campbell: Prior to taking her current position in Northampton, she served as assistant superintendent of the Old Rochester Regional District, assistant director of special education in Waltham and the turnaround principal in New Bedford.

Pearson-Campbell also was a science teacher and special education teacher in Framingham and Boston and was the assistant principal for STEM, and later principal, at a middle school in Hanover.

Pearson-Campbell has a BS in heath information management from Florida A&M, an MEd from UMass Boston, CSGs with a special in special education administration from Bridgewater State, and an EdD in educational leadership from UMass Lowell.

• McCaskill: He took his current position as assistant superintendent of secondary schools for BPS in 2021. Before that, McCaskill was the executive director of Madison Park Vocational High School.

McCaskill began his career in Springfield in 1988, served as a principal at Putnam Vocational High School for six years and then spent five years as the director of secondary schools and operations in Hartford, Connecticut.

McCaskill has a BA in mathematics from Western New England College and an MEd from Westfield State College. He also earned an advanced credential in educational administration from University of Massachusetts.

• Mendonsa: Before taking her position with Pittsfield Public Schools in 2021, Mendonsa spent six years as the principal at Mohawk Trail Regional High School and three years at the Duggan Middle School in Springfield.

Mendonsa began her career as a teacher in North Carolina and has worked at Massachusetts school districts in Amherst, Northborough and Springfield.

Mendonsa has a BS in history from Springfield College, she earned an MEd and CAGS at University of Massachusetts and got an EdD in educational policy and leadership at American University.

More information about the superintendent search is available online.