Two finalists named for Assistant Superintendent post
Published on June 21st, 2006
STONEHAM, MA - The School Committee will interview two candidates on Thursday night who have been selected by School Superintendent Dr. Joseph Connelly as finalists for the soon-to-be vacated Assistant Superintendent post.
According to Connelly, he recently selected Billerica High School Principal Dr. Richard Safier and Anne Patriquin, Georgetown’s Director of Curriculum and Instruction, as the top two choices to fill the second-highest ranking administrative position within the district.
Current Assistant Superintendent Joseph Casey, who is winding down his career in Stoneham this week, is heading to Melrose to assume the school Superintendent’s position in the neighboring municipality.
Shortly after Casey was selected to fill the post last April, the School Committee appointed a search committee to comb through resumes and conduct preliminary interviews of Casey’s potential replacement.
“We had a total of 25 candidates and we interviewed nine of them. Five candidates were then referred to me for second interviews, and from those five, I identified two finalists to be interviewed by the School Committee on Thursday night,” Connelly explained in a phone interview on Tuesday.
“Both candidates come with a great deal of experience, both building and system-wide,” the Superintendent added. “They also understand the many facets of the job that we’re asking the Assistant Superintendent in Stoneham to be responsible for.”
Among other responsibilities, Casey oversaw all personnel matters and served as the district’s Title 1 Director, grant writer, and K-12 Curriculum Director.
The duties included in those roles encapsulated a wide-variety of tasks, including conducting final interviews for new staff, preparing employee evaluations, scrutinizing and analyzing MCAS scores, and regularly updating the learning curriculum.
“Once they are interviewed, the School Committee will go into executive session and gives me the salary range for the successful candidate,” said Connelly of the rest of the search process. “The School Committee has indicated that, if necessary, the range can be upwards to the [$105,000] the Assistant Superintendent is being paid.”
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