Melissa Bailey Photo
Consultant Steve Kupfer and school board chair Carlos Torre.
After public criticism that its search was too rushed, the school board is taking more time to hear public feedback and find the right candidate to replace outgoing schools Superintendent Reginald Mayo.
School board President Carlos Torre shared that news Monday night in a briefing with aldermen at City Hall. He brought with him Steve Kupfer of PROACT Search, the firm the board hired for $22,000 to conduct a national search to replace Mayo.
His appearance came as the school board makes a renewed effort to seek public feedback on the search. Torre and others tried to get public input two weeks ago, but instead got a lesson on why parents — and other people with a stake in city schools—don’t show up to public meetings.
“It would be an understatement to say the first week [of public outreach] did not work out so well,” Torre told aldermen packed into a second-floor meeting room.
He announced that the district has extended the public input portion of the search until May 22. The public hearings are over, but the school district is holding extra meetings with teachers, teachers union stewards, administrators, and religious leaders to hear what they want to see in the next superintendent. More “stakeholder” meetings were added because previous ones were poorly attended. The board also plans to interview every declared mayoral candidate, Torre said.
Members of the public are invited to fill out surveys online; so far only 146 people have done so, according to Kupfer. Kupfer said the feedback will help PROACT write a “profile” of the qualifications and characteristics New Haveners are looking for in its next schools chief.
Torre backed off a July 1 goal he had previously announced for putting a new candidate in place. He said the school board aims to have a superintendent in place by next school year — not necessarily by July 1, when Mayo is set to retire. The timeline is not “set in stone,” he said.
Torre said PROACT will help New Haven whittle down a field of candidates to seven or eight. After those candidates are interviewed, three finalists will be chosen and will be “brought to the community” for public vetting, Torre said.