Activists seek say in superintendent search

Yawu Miller

Gloribel Mota knows that the search committee entrusted with finding Boston’s next school superintendent will present the community with up to five candidates carefully selected from those currently vying for the job.

She knows there is community representation on the search committee, but she is not waiting for the committee to present the candidates to make a decision about what qualifications the next superintendent should have.

Mota says it’s critical that parents play a central role in picking the new superintendent and that the superintendent respect the concerns of the parents.

“We don’t want someone who’s going to continue the norm,” she said. “We need a superintendent who is a partner with the community and is a friend to the community. They need to have a connection with the parents.”

Mota and 70 or so other parents and community activists spent much of Saturday in the auditorium of the Boston Day and Evening Academy for a forum on the search process. The meeting was organized by Community Partners for a New Superintendent, a coalition of groups organized to help ensure parent and community involvement in the process.

The search committee is expected to introduce its candidates to the community by the end of April. A final decision is expected by June.

Jaqueline Rivers, who welcomed the activists to the forum, told the parents that their input into the process will help set the tone for the next superintendent.

“It’s important to send a message that the next superintendent is coming out to a meeting where parents are active and involved,” she said.

After a presentation by educational consultant Mary Bacon and a panel discussion, parents broke into discussion groups to hammer out recommendations for the search committee.

Caprice Taylor Mendez, executive director of the Boston Parent Organizing Network, attended a break-out session on family and community engagement, which recommended that candidates be quizzed on how they define community engagement.

Another question the group wants to ask the prospective superintendents is how they plan to develop a system-wide approach that includes families as partners.

The focus on parent involvement in the selection process is part of a wider movement toward giving parents a greater say in the school policies. Two years ago, BPON and other community organizations lobbied the school department and the City Council to fund positions for Family and Community Outreach coordinators, school staff who serve as liaisons between the schools and parents.

While initially hesitant to take up the idea, the school department eventually secured funding for 17 such coordinators — a move parent advocates say is a good start.

Parental involvement is widely seen as an essential element in successful schools.

“Families have to be equal status partners in the schools if we’re ever going to make this work,” Bacon told the activists at Saturday’s forum.

The recommendations generated during Saturday’s forum will be compiled into a document that will be forwarded to the selection committee, according to Mendez.

“We hope that this document really provides a focus for the selection of the new superintendent and gives them an agenda,” she said.