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Home My WebLink About01/08/2025Approved 1-15-25 Mansfield Superintendent Search Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes for Wednesday, January 08, 2025 An Open Meeting/Workshop of the Mansfield School Committee was held in person on Wednesday, January 08 2025. The open meeting session was called to order by Chair Steve Schoonveld at 6:36 p.m. Call to Order: o Lynn Cavicchi, School Committee member o Steve Schoonveld, School Committee member o Diana Bren, Select Board member o Paula Boylan, Occupational Therapist, Robinson Elementary o Scott Cohen, Teacher, Robinson Elementary and Mansfield Educators Association Leadership o Jessica Davis, Assistant Superintendent, Student Services o Scott Feely, Finance Committee member o *Peishan Liu -Snyder, Parent, QMS & MHS (arrived at 7:40 pm) o Jennifer MacMurray, Teacher, QMS o Matt McGuire, Principal, QMS o Lee Neary, Paraprofessional •:n =;,; o Tenika Ortiz, Parent, 1/J &QMS n `�'-�' r-- o Riya Singh, Student, MHS '26 .ern fTIC7 -C Also Present: mf— > o0 o Glenn Koocher, MASC _q CD i w 7 Superintendent Search Advisory Committee Introductions C n rn Each member introduced themselves, and their ties to Mansfield Public Schools. Review open meeting law and use of executive session Glenn Koocher provided an overview of the open meeting process. The committee must adjourn to executive session when discussing or interviewing candidates. Other than those instances, all items can be managed in open session. For the purposes of tonight's meeting, the group continued in open session. Steve Schoonveld reviewed conflict of interest points. Handouts were provided to express a conflict of interest related to the candidate or potential financial benefit. Glenn noted that the co-chairs of the committee can sign off any forms. For example, if a member knows a candidate either personally or from prior work, then they should disclose. If a staff member works directly for one of the candidates currently, and there is any discussion on pay increase; then that person should report so no one can accuse of any behind the scenes agreement. Glenn continued to review best practices about avoiding quorum violations. For example, it is ok for 2 people to casually discuss something in passing. However, if then each person then discusses the same thing with other members then it could be an open meeting violation. Do not reach out to anyone to perform your own reference checks either formally or not. For example, candidate A is coming from District A. You happen to have a friend that works at that district. You cannot call them for feedback. Presentation of committee charge Steve Schoonveld and Lynn Cavicchi reviewed the charge, or responsibility of the group. Review confidentiality requirements The identity of all candidates is confidential. When finalists are pushed forward to the full school committee, those candidates will be contacted to remind them, that their names will now become public and interviews will be held in open session. Page 1 of 3 Approved 1-15-25 Mansfield Superintendent Search Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes for Wednesday, January 08, 2025 All applications are stored on a cloud. Access to this folder will be provided to each member. Members were advised on confidentiality and instructed not to share the link or leave printed copies hanging around. All notes from the meeting are discoverable, IF they exist. It is advisable to shred any notes at the end of each meeting, unless needed for future meetings. It is permissible for the search committee members to seek guidance from our school attorney's office (MHTL.) Discussion of the search process and timeline Discussion on the development of interview questions for preliminary interviews There are some questions you cannot ask. For example, those relating to race, age, religion, gender, housing status. If they indicate where they live, you can then ask "Will you be able to attend regular evening meetings and school events?" Once a candidate brings it up, it becomes open to questioning. If you suspect someone is close to retirement, you cannot ask what are your retirement plans. You can ask "If things go well, do you see yourself here in 5 years?" The last question in every interview should be "Is there anything else we need to know?" This allows a candidate to emphasize one of their strengths or notify the group that there may be previous history that could "blow up." It will then be up to the search committee to ask for further information and ultimately use the information in their ratings process. Questions regarding criminal activity is also limited. You cannot ask about a request for example, but you may ask about a conviction. The MASC Orientation of Search Committees document along with the MASC Developing Interview Questions document have valuable information about good and bad interview questions. Establish schedule for preliminary candidate interviews MASC will provide each member one set of interview questions per candidate so that you can document as needed for each question. These are your personal working copies. During each interview, the Co-chairs are the spokespersons. Each member will be able to ask one question and then follow up questions are allowed. The anticipated length of each interview is 75 minutes. At the end of the interview process the committee will convene to move candidates forward to the full school committee. Lynn Cavicchi emphasized that the role of this committee is not to choose the final candidate but to bring top candidates for further interviewing. The final vote on a candidate will take place by the school committee based on the search committee feedback and their own experience in the interviews. Glenn noted that at least 2 candidates must be moved forward with more preferred. If the committee cannot choose 2 candidates then the application process will re open. The School Committee met on January 7t1 and, based on the job description as well as feedback from focus groups and surveys, developed a list of criteria for screening the candidates. The members reviewed these items and offered suggestions for updates. Then, each member took ownership of one item with the intent of developing two interview questions for the criteria. These will be sent to Diane Nugent via a Google Form. Diane will consolidate the data and send it to Glenn Koocher. The questions are not confidential. They are decided in open meeting. A candidate may ask for the list of questions ahead of time and it must be granted. The committee can also choose to provide the list of questions at the start of the interview. It is permissible to use MASC example questions. They are not copyrighted and it is not considered plagiarism. A first attempt was made to identify an interview schedule. The committee was asked to hold January 21, 22, 23 and 27. It was agreed that two interviews per day would be the max. On a couple of days, interviews will start as early as 4 while others will all occur in the evening. All 13 members must be at every interview. Page 2 of 3 Approved 1-15-25 Mansfield Superintendent Search Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes for Wednesday, January 08, 2025 Review expectations for January 15 planning meeting: • Each member will have completed 2 interview questions. • Glenn Koocher will formalize the interview questions for discussion. • Each member will have reviewed all candidates and be prepared to 1) complete a straw poll of top candidates and 2) discuss in depth what candidates will move forward. • Committee will finalize dates and times for interviews. • Committee will discuss next steps. Other- Items not anticipated by the Chair 48 hours prior to this meeting: None Documents Referenced: Focus Group Summary Survey Priorities Survey Responses Agenda Timeline Committee Members Committee Charge District Profile Job Description Vision, Mission & Core Values Criteria MASC Orientation overview for Search Committees MASC Examples of superintendent interview questions Conflict of Interest forms Motion to adjourn from Executive Session not to return to open session At 8:01, CoChair Schoonveld called for a motion to adjourn Motion to adjourn by Diana Bren / Lynn Cavicchi Motion Passes 13-0 Respectfully Submitted, Diane Nugent, Administrative Assistant to Superintendent & School Committee Page 3 of 3