The Search Committee Chair, Committee member Paul Bockelman of Ward 6, presided over Monday night’s meeting to announce the Committee’s selection of three finalists for the position of Superintendent.

By Jim Clark

The Somerville School Committee met on Monday evening in the Aldermanic Chambers to formally approve the nominations of three candidates for the position of Superintendent of Schools, in replacement of retiring Superintendent Tony Pierantozzi, who will be stepping down in July 2015.

Over 60 applicants from all around the country expressed interest in Somerville’s Superintendent of Schools position, and the list was narrowed down to three final candidates by the School Committee at the meeting. Dr. Kriner Cash, Dr. Fredrick McDowell, and Ms. Mary Skipper have been invited to visit Somerville next month as the Committee looks toward making its final selection.

Of the selection process, Search Committee Chair and Ward 6 School Committee member Paul Bockelman said, “As we anticipated, there was a lot of interest in this position. We were very impressed with the overall quality of the candidate pool, and are thrilled to be bringing three outstanding candidates to Somerville for final interviews,”

The candidates are scheduled to spend a day meeting with members of the Somerville community, and will thereafter face a final interview with the entire Somerville School Committee.

Final candidate interviews, which will be open to the public, will be held on the evenings of December 2, 3, and 4th in City Hall. The interviews will be televised on Somerville’s local cable television stations (Channels 15/16) as well. School Committee members will accept comments from concerned members of the public from December 4-8. The School Committee is then scheduled to vote on a final candidate on December 8.

“Somerville is a great community, and the Somerville Public Schools district has established itself as a leader in urban education in Massachusetts,” said Bockelman. “We are confident that Somerville’s next Superintendent of Schools will continue to lead our community on an upward trajectory, building on the great work of current Superintendent Tony Pierantozzi and his team, and focusing on the needs, challenges and opportunities of a wonderfully diverse community.”

The following information about the three finalists has been released:

Dr. Kriner Cash: Dr. Cash served as Superintendent of Schools in Memphis, Tennessee from 2008-2013. Prior to his work in Memphis, he served for four years as the Chief of Accountability for the Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Over the course of his career he has served as Superintendent of the Martha’s Vineyard Public Schools, as Associate Dean of the Howard University School of Education, and as Coordinator for Community Involvement for the Cincinnati Public Schools. Dr. Cash holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Princeton, a Master’s Degree in Administration from Stanford, and a Doctorate in Cultural Diversity & Curricular Reform from the University of Massachusetts.

Dr. Fredrick McDowell: Dr. McDowell currently serves as an Instructional Superintendent for the Denver Public School System, where, among many responsibilities, he oversees professional development and evaluations for 15 middle and high schools serving 14,000 students. Prior to moving to Denver, he worked in the Boston Public School System, serving as Headmaster of Brighton High School and as the Principal of High Tech Academy. He began his career in education as a graphic design teacher in the Durham, North Carolina Public Schools where he taught for four years before becoming an Assistant Principal in the Orange County, North Carolina School District. Dr. McDowell holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Art and Design from North Carolina State University, Master’s Degrees in Technology Education and School Administration from North Carolina State University, and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Northeastern University.

Ms. Mary Skipper: Ms. Skipper currently serves as a Network Superintendent in the Boston Public School System, where she oversees the District’s 34 high schools. Prior to assuming her current position, she was Chief Education Officer/Headmaster of TechBoston Academy, which she helped launch within the Boston School System as the Founding Headmaster in 2002. Other roles within the Boston Public School System include Assistant Academic Superintendent for Pilot Schools and Technology Project Manager within the Office of Instructional Technology. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English and Latin from Tufts University, a Master’s Degree in Latin and Greek from Tufts University, a Master’s Degree in Education from Harvard University, and is currently working toward her Doctorate in Urban Leadership from Teacher’s College at Columbia University.

As permitted by law, initial candidate interviews were conducted in Executive Session on November 18 and 19 by a 7-member advisory committee chaired by Ward 3School Committee member Adam Sweeting. The advisory committee included School Committee members Carrie Normand of Ward 7, Ward 5’s Laura Pitone, and Steve Roix fromWard 1; Ms. Nelia Braga, a teacher at Somerville High School and mother of two; Ms. Rupinder Kaur, a recent Somerville High School graduate and current student at Wentworth Institute of Technology; and Ms. Lupe Ojeda, a parent of children in the district and a board member and parent leader at The Welcome Project.

Following the first round of interviews, the advisory committee winnowed the slate of candidates down to three for consideration by the full School Committee.

The School Committee engaged the services of Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates (HYA) consulting firm earlier this year to assist in the search for Somerville’s next Superintendent of Schools after current Superintendent Pierantozzi announced his retirement.