The plan is to have the new leader ready to step in when Superintendent David Dupont retires in June.
HOLYOKE – The School Committee voted Monday to hire a consultant to search for a new superintendent officials hope will be in place when the current school year ends in June.
That’s the date of retirement of Superintendent David L. Dupont, who is in his third year leading the system and 40th working for it.
The committee voted 7-2 Monday to hire the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, of Boston.
The committee considered six consultants on a list compiled at the committee’s request by Vice Chairman Devin M. Sheehan. At least $20,000 is available in the budget for the search, he said.
Mayor Alex B. Morse, chairman of the School Committee, made the motion to hire the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. The firm has worked here before so knows the system, is less than two hours away making it more accessible than some of the national firms and the price is reasonable, he said.
Hiring the Massachusetts Association of School Committees will cost at least $10,500. It will cost more for advertising, which can include $1,800 to $2,000 per ad in a publication like Education Week, according to information about the firm Sheehan provided.
The school system also might have to reimburse superintendent candidates for travel and lodging expenses, officials said.
A representative of the firm is scheduled to discuss the superintendent search with the School Committee Monday.
Officials have said that having nine months until the school year ends might seem like a lot of time. But searching for and screening candidates and selecting finalists can eat up months. And it is possible officials and the community will be unsatisfied with the candidates and a new search might be ordered, they said.
“I think it’s important in terms of timing to get the process going,” Morse said.
The salary range to be offered to superintendent applicants wasn’t discussed. Dupont’s yearly salary is $144,000.
Parents at the committee meeting at Dean Technical High School said later they were upset they were uninvolved in choosing a consultant.
“We’re supposed to be working together,” said Hazel Rosario, who has triplets at Dean.
School Committee members Michael J. Moriarty and Joshua A. Goshua assured the parents, gathered in the hall outside the meeting room, that parents and others in the community will have a say in the superintendent search.
In previous searches, a committee of 15 or so parents, business people, teachers and others was formed to screen superintendent applicants, Moriarty said.
“Why do you think you’re not going to be part of that?” said Moriarty, an at large committee member.
Garcia, who represents Ward 1, said there might have been confusion over the meeting’s start time. Most meetings begin at 6:15 p.m. But Monday’s was a special session to deal only with the superintendent search that began at 6 p.m. No one spoke during the public discussion part of the agenda that occurs after the Pledge of Allegiance, he said.
Other consultants the committee discussed were the New England School Development Council, of Marlborough, McPherson & Jacobson L.LC., of Omaha, Neb., Proact Search, of Wilmette, Ill., Ray and Associates Inc., of Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Manahawkin, N.J., and The Management Solution, of Auburn, which lists former Holyoke treasurer David B. Donoghue as senior finance consultant.