Hopkinton School Committee members on Thursday named Nancy Kavanaugh as the committeeliaison and Sheena (the districtdirector of human resources) as the administrative liaison for the districtsuperintendent search and approved a 13-member screening committee structure to vet candidates for the district's next superintendent.

The decision formalizes several procedural items for a search that NESDC (the New England School Development Council) will facilitate. NESDC consultants Judy, David DeRosi and Christina McGonigal presented the search process, described outreach and focus-group plans and proposed a timeline that would aim for a May 1 selection and a July 1 start date for the new superintendent.

The school committeeliaison and administrative liaison roles will handle weekly logistics for the search, including reserving interview space and shepherding materials to committee meetings, Judy, a NESDC consultant, told the committee. "This is your search. You will be the ones making all the key decisions," Judy said, describing NESDC's role as facilitator and recruiter.

Committee members also approved a screening-committee composition, by motion, that lists specific role categories rather than names: two school committee members, a CPAC parent, a parent representing groups serving multilingual families (for example LPAC or similarly focused parent groups), one select-board member, two administrative representatives (central-office and building-level), two representatives from the Hopkinton Teachers Association (one from HTA leadership and one from the broader membership), one staff executive assistant to the superintendent (pending that person's willingness to serve), one non-parent community member (a resident without a current student), one parent from a school fundraising or booster organization (for example PTO, HEF, boosters or the Hopkinton Music Association) and an additional parent slot left flexible so the final panel can balance representation across elementary, middle and high school families. The motion to adopt that role-based structure passed on a roll-call vote.

The committee also nominated and approved two school committee members to sit on the screening committee: Kyla and Susan Rothermick. Chris and Jamie were authorized to work together to select community and teacher representatives for the screening panel. The motions were made and approved by roll call; named votes recorded during the meeting showed unanimous support among the members who cast roll-call votes.

NESDCpresenters walked members through the proposed timeline and key milestones, which the consultants said were designed working backward from a July 1 start date: outreach and advertisement beginning January 17; recruitment open through March 5; focus groups (the consultants proposed the week of Feb. 3) and a community survey to develop a candidate profile; drafting of a candidate profile for committee review by Feb. 14 and committee approval targeted for Feb. 22; screening-committee interviews in March (consultants listed possible screening-committee meeting/interview dates in mid- to late-March) with finalist interviews by the school committee in April and a selection on or around May 1. The consultants said the district could adjust the timeline for things such as finalist visits and transition overlap between the outgoing and incoming superintendent.

David DeRosi, NESDCexecutive director, said districts vary on whether they allow an overlap between outgoing and incoming superintendents and that such arrangements are negotiated case by case. "If you could work it out with your future hire, there's always a little back and forth," DeRosi said.

Committee members asked about screening-committee workload and confidentiality; NESDC advised that screening committee members typically will spend roughly 10to15 hours across paper screening and interview work depending on the number of candidates and interview schedule. NESDC also recommended a screening-committee size that balances broad representation and manageability; the committee discussed ranges between 9 and 15 members and settled on the 13-role structure described above.

Formal actions recorded in the meeting minutes include:
- Motion: "Nancy Kavanaugh serve as the school committee liaison and Sheena serve as the administrative liaison on the search committee." Mover: Susan Rothermick. Second: Chris. Roll-call votes recorded in the meeting transcript (Susan Rothermick, Chris [last name not specified], Jamie [presiding officer], Kyla) were recorded as "yes." Outcome: approved.
- Motion: Adopt the role-based composition for the screening committee (13 role slots described above). Mover: Jamie. Second: Chris. Roll-call votes recorded as "yes" by the members called. Outcome: approved.
- Motion: Nominate Kyla and Susan Rothermick to represent the school committee on the screening committee. Mover: Chris. Second: Susan Rothermick. Roll-call votes recorded as "yes" by the members called. Outcome: approved.
- Motion: Authorize Chris and Jamie to select community members and teacher representatives to fill the screening committee slots. Mover: Kyla. Second: Susan Rothermick. Roll-call votes recorded as "yes" by the members called. Outcome: approved.
- Motion: Adjourn. Mover: Susan Rothermick. Second: Chris. Outcome: approved by roll call.

The committee did not vote to finalize the NESDC-proposed timeline at the special meeting; NESDC said it can adjust dates after consulting with the liaisons and committee members and will provide a revised timeline for committee approval at a subsequent regular meeting. NESDC also offered templates for recruitment materials, focus-group prompts and an on-line survey that will be used to build the candidate profile.

Next procedural steps: the liaisons will coordinate with NESDC to finalize the timeline and public outreach, NESDC will post recruitment materials and open the application portal, and Chris and Jamie will begin soliciting and screening community and teacher applicants to fill the role-based screening-committee slots. The school committee will revisit timeline approval and any remaining procedural details at its next regular meetings (the committee has meetings scheduled Jan. 9 and Jan. 16).