On January 2, The Newfound Area School Board announced the formation of a formal screening committee as part of its search for a new Superintendent of Schools. Dr. Marie Ross, who has has been the Superintendent of the Newfound Area School District for eight years, will not seek to renew her contract that ends in June.
In late September, Dr. Ross became ill while visiting family in Baltimore and put in for what was initially assumed to be a short-term leave of absence. Dr. Phil McCormack has been serving as Interim Superintendent. Dr. Ross notified the school Board in early December that she would not seek to renew her contract.
The search committee will be comprised of 13 members charged with reviewing, interviewing and selecting finalists from all applicants. The School Board will then consider those candidates to replace the current Superintendent when her contract expires on June 30, 2013.
A member of the Administrative team close to the situation has expressed Dr. Ross’s deep concern for the well being of the children of Newfound and the entire school community. “This really is her motivation for notifying the School Board of this decision,” said Business Administrator Daniel Rossner. “She wanted to make sure that the District had the proper amount of time and resources to ensure the best possible outcome for the schools and students into which she has poured her heart for the past eight years.”
The Newfound School Board has contracted with the New England School Development Council (NESDEC) to assist with the search for a new Superintendent of Schools. For more information on the Superintendent position and the application visit www.nesdec.org.
Over the next several days, the School Board intends to appoint a Screening Committee to assist in the superintendent search process. While the School Board has the sole authority to appoint the Superintendent, it wishes to have the benefit of input from a Screening Committee made up of various members of the community and from school personnel who will report to the new Superintendent.
School Board Chairman Vincent Paul Migliore of Bridgewater said, “The Newfound Area School Board asks that each member serving on the Screening Committee keep the following points in mind. The participant should be available to attend several evening meetings including all the candidate interview sessions, and he/she should understand that much of the business of the Screening Committee will require a high degree of confidentiality as potential candidates’ names and application materials will be reviewed and discussed. With the search timeline aggressive, participation will only be for a short period.”
The 13 members of the Screening Committee will be as follows:
- 1 Member at-Large, selected by the Board: Leslie Dion, TTCC Director
- 2 Members of the Board, selected by the Board: Paul Rheinhardt & Susan Cheney
- 2 Members of the Administration, selected by the Administrators: TBD
- 2 Members of the Support (non-contract) Staff, selected by lottery, from all letters submitted.
- 2 Members of the Professional Staff (contract), selected by a method chosen by the Newfound Area Teachers Association.
- 2 Members from Nominations made by the Boards of Selectmen, selected by lottery.
- 2 Members from the public who are parents or Guardians of NASD school children currently in the system, selected by lottery.
Those wishing to work on the Screening Committee should send a letter expressing interest no later than Monday, January 14, 2013 to, School Board Chairman Migliore SAU#4, 20 Main Street Bristol, NH 03222.
The Newfound Area Co-operative School District is made up of the following seven towns: Alexandria, Bridgewater, Bristol, Danbury, Groton, Hebron and New Hampton.
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