Boston Public Schools officials on Tuesday released few details about the search for a new superintendent.
“As we get ready to go into the search, we’ll be able to tell you more about our plans at our next school committee meeting, which is Feb. 15,” committee Chairwoman Jeri Robinson said at a press meeting, where she was joined by Superintendent Brenda Cassellius and Mayor Michelle Wu. “So we look forward to beginning this process and sharing that with you at that time.”
Cassellius, who last earned $311,711, and Wu said they mutually agreed that she would leave at the end of her third school year, as did her predecessor, Tommy Chang.
Paul Reville, a professor of practice of educational policy and administration at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, said many superintendents across the country are leaving their posts because of the difficulty of the job, compounded by the COVID pandemic.
“There are significant challenges in advancing student achievement when factors like poverty or politics are part of the equation,” Reville said. Add to that COVID, and “it’s not surprising their tenures are short.”
Wu said she wants someone “who can hit the ground running,” a qualification that Reville said is crucial because a change in superintendents can be “disruptive” to students.
But Reville thinks that it’s still possible to find the right person.
“It can happen,” he said, “if you have the right combination of talent and the proper balance of power, and if everyone stays in their lanes.”
