The School Committee will next interview South Middle School principal Ronald Rix.
Melodie L. Goodwin, curriculum director for the North Adams School District and a finalist for Westfield superintendent of schools, speaks at Westfield Vocational Technical High School on Tuesday prior to her interview with the Westfield School Committee.WESTFIELD – Melodie L. Goodwin, curriculum director for North Adams School District, believes schools must be competitive when looking for grants or School Choice students and they must educate the community about the cost of education.
“When people, taxpayers, understand they are supportive,” she told the School Committee here Tuesday night.
School budget oversight lies with the superintendent of schools. “It is critical that they keep their eye on the (financial) ball,” said Goodwin.
“Schools can be wasteful places and there must be accountability. The superintendent must know the costs of each and all programs,” she said.
She said a good superintendent “needs support from the people who work for you and the superintendent needs to be someone who has filled the shoes of those people under them.”
Goodwin is one of four candidates for superintendent of schools here to replace the retiring Shirley Alvira.
She is one of two candidates for the job who lacks a doctorate degree.
Her response to a School Committee query concerning that was “Education for me is improving myself, not to get a piece of paper.
“I have learned the most from individuals without doctorates degrees and I have more college credit that is needed for two doctorates,” she said.
“If your are looking for a superintendent with a doctorate, it is not me,” she said.
A West Springfield native, Goodwin has been North Adams curriculum director since 2005. Prior to that she was a vice principal and then principal of the middle school in South Hadley. She is a former elementary and middle school teacher who taught in a variety of states including South Carolina, Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
She views a school “as a family that must see that the needs of the family are met,” and she believes “teachers must be flexible enough to teach their students regardless of their differences and needs.”
“Teachers can provide instruction for all,” Goodwin said during her interview.
She said her biggest challenge as superintendent here will be “to establish trust among the different stakeholders, parents, teachers and business. I can do that by following through on things, be a presence and be someone who can listen.”
Goodwin said she supports vocational education as much as academic studies, noting “college is an option that not everyone takes.”
Goodwin holds a master's degree in education from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke; a bachelor's degree from Sweet Briar (Va.) College and professional certification in elementary education, middle school education, mathematics, administration and supervision.
The School Committee will continue its interview process Wednesday night with Westfield’s South Middle School Principal Ronald R. Rix and on Saturday with Suzanne Scallion, principal of Napa, Calif., Unified School District.
Rix is the other candidate lacking a doctorate degree.
The committee interviewed Maureen F. Bingham, assistant superintendent in Swampscott, Monday night.
The committee plans to name a new superintendent in early May.