Pittsfield Interviews Prospective Interim Superintendents
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The School Committee is set to appoint an interim superintendent at Wednesday's regular meeting.
They have a choice between three candidates: Roland Joyal Jr., Latifah Phillips, and Robert Putnam. Outgoing Superintendent Joseph Curtis will step down from his position on July 1 after 30 years with the district.
Mary Jane Rickson, superintendent of the Granby Public Schools, withdrew from consideration shortly after her name was announced.
During 70-minute interviews on Wednesday and Thursday at Reid Middle School, the three finalists were asked to detail how they would approach the yearlong position, with topics ranging from efficient budgeting to improving morale in the district and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Putnam is a retired educator and former superintendent of the Central Berkshire Regional and the Adams-Cheshire Regional School Districts, who also did interim stints as superintendent in the Mount Greylock Regional School District and the Farmington River Regional School District.
"You can't go back, but how do we find a way toward a really bright, vibrant, attractive future?" he asked the school officials.
Phillips is currently the chief equity and engagement officer for the Lowell Public Schools and has prior experience as the director of Native education for the state of Washington's Department of Education, and the assistant secretary of Indian education in the New Mexico Public Education Department.
"I want you to know that I understand the importance of this role for the community. I don't take it lightly, and I would not have applied to come to this district if I didn't feel that one, I could be an asset, and two, that I could also continue to learn and grow in a community that I feel shares values that I also hold," she said.
"Education is more than just a job to me, it is a passion. It is mission work."
Joyal is a retired educator currently completing an interim superintendency in Monson. Prior to his retirement in 2023, he was the executive director/superintendent of the Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative.
"I think I can bring you a wealth of knowledge and vast experiences," he said.
The Pittsfield High School investigation into allegations of inappropriate behavior with students and next year's school budget were among the topics of discussion.
Putnam said that, if the city was only able to level fund the school budget during the next budget cycle, he would prioritize core and mandated educational services such as special education, English language learning, transportation, and health services and "Of course, use a lens of equity and student outcomes as guiding principles for evaluating which programs or services that will be can be scaled back or delayed."
He outlined several several steps for addressing a possible level-funded budget, which includes engaging stakeholders through public forums and staff meetings to communicate the fiscal reality and constraints, "probably" forming a budget advisory group, developing a mutely scenario budget that shows different funding levels, and advocate for and explore other revenue sources.
Phillips has served on three cabinets at school districts and said she has often carried the role of communicator around budget season, "which goes hand in hand with the budget so the budget is not created in isolation, and I think it's very important that that any budget decisions are made transparently with all of the stakeholders, such as city council, school district, families, teachers, leaders."
Lowell has site-based budgeting where the schools are designated a set amount of money depending on student characteristics.
"I know Lowell, but I also know that in Massachusetts, it's different how Chapter 70 is allocated for each district in your net school funding formula. If you tell me that there's a levy ceiling coming, what's tough is that that is a longer-term discussion, and the interim role is a one-year position," Phillips explained.
"So I do think that for me, it would be important to have an immediate briefing with our chief financial officer to really understand some of the history of the budget, some of the flexibilities within the budget. The city is able to make flexible decisions, the school district makes flexible decisions."
She added that it is important to identify all of the required costs. She would then look at the district's strategic priorities and then efficiencies to determine which cuts, if necessary, would have the least impact on classrooms.
"We should always focus on what will have the greatest impact for student outcomes," she said.
Joyal said he would start the budget process earlier, even in the fall.
"I've started in these scenarios, working early in September, October in that scenario, and found that it's really helped putting things in front of the school committee, letting everybody know what's going on," he said.
He would also meet with the administrative team to discuss its priorities.
"You have your five-year plan that's out there, and you kind of a one-year district improvement plan that has checked off for the next couple of years, I've gone through that and making sure that the things that you want and that you expect as School Committee members and where community specs and that we've all agreed to are aligned with what we're budgeting," he said.
"People will tell you in life, what's prioritized gets money. If money is not put to it, then it's probably not a priority in that sense, in many cases, so working with our administrative team to look at line items in the budgets."
Joyal's current district is looking at a special education stabilization fund that allows for money to be deposited and used for special circumstances, such as new special needs students in the district.
Putnam said he had an incident in his first year as principal so profound that it has affected his entire career. A staff member was accused of inappropriate physical contact with female students in 2004 and was cleared by an investigation conducted by the state Department of Children and Families.
He thought to himself, "OK, that's it. There's nothing that's going on here," but a decade later, the teacher was arraigned in Southern Berkshire District Court on multiple sexual assault charges involving three former students. He was acquitted in 2014.
Putnam didn't name the teacher during the interview, but later confirmed it was Scott Muir.
"I can tell you that I would say in July 2004, I went to sleep at night thinking it was an incident that seemed to be explained by everybody involved. None of the parents got back to me about being unsatisfied with the investigation or anything that had been done, and so I did not think about it again for eight years," he said.
"…From that day to date, I have been thinking, 'What could I have done differently?'"
He explained that this has made him a more suspicious person, and "I don't think I was not suspicious prior to that, but I think now I tend to think much more clearly about these things."
As the Title IX coordinator for her district, Phillips has had to lead and advise on various matters of discrimination, harassment, and sexual misconduct.
"I've been in this role for the last two years, and I want to mention that in my district, this role has been held in different places. When it came to me, it was shared that I was chosen to take on this role because of my reputation for impartiality, for objectivity, for thoroughness, and fairness," she said.
"It has not been an easy role, and one of the reasons it's not easy is because you really have to stand in your integrity in evaluating the evidence that you've evaluated."
She approached investigations with student safety in mind first, "whether that's physical safety, emotional safety, psychological safety, always being mindful of the students' needs."
"And then the second way I approach it is fairness and objectivity, really being open to hearing all of the evidence, asking the questions before making the decision. As I mentioned, this type of position really pushes you to reflect on who you are, and you have the courage to make the right decisions," Phillips said.
"Because there are times where I thought, 'Oh, my goodness, I don't want this case. If it's substantiated, there's going to be fallout. If it's unsubstantiated, there's going to be fallout,' but I think that in this role, people have to trust you. Your ability to be fair and objective, and thorough."
Her district has made the reporting process electronic, and it feeds a data system that allows for internal tracking.
"The other piece is that, again, coming back to that harm still may take place, seeing so many unsubstantiated findings, at first, we were just leaving it there. The investigation closed. It's unsubstantiated. It's over, but I realize that that doesn't help with our learning environments, it doesn't help with our staff relationships," she said.
"And so I have started integrating restorative practices, restorative process, and education."
Joyal said, "When you work in busier places that have higher populations of students, high schools with 1,200 to 1,300 students, versus maybe suburban or rural areas that have smaller amounts, you see more things."
"What we've done generally when things like this would happen is try to gather as much information as you can, very fast, in an appropriate way, written statements by people. In many cases, it's unfortunate, but maybe fortunate, depending on how it plays out, that's where it comes into whether it can be fortunate or unfortunate depending on what you find the end result would be, you're putting people on leave many times, faculty members, so that you can do proper investigation and that you can make sure people are safe in the building, whether it's students or other faculty members, people are safe," he said.
"And just being put out on a leave, I know, harms people's reputation, regardless of whether they're clear and they come back or they're not clear and they don't come back. You can come back after being put on the leave and it's unfortunate, many times people will just cast doubt with what happened out there, and it hurts to do that, but we need to do what's right for us."
Joyal said he has dealt with these situations "very fairly" by swiftly getting statements and contacting the right people, such as students, guardians, the school committee, DCF, and law enforcement agencies.
"What lessons did I learn from these? A lot of times, acting fast and acting swiftly, not fast and reckless, but fast to protect people and to be safe. In that sense, keeping a tight circle when you're investigating, and really keeping the information close, and what I mean by close during the investigation, still sharing it with the appropriate people, but keeping it close," he said.
"Because, as I mentioned before, people's lives are and their reputations are at stake in this sense, and not all accusations we know are true, some are absolutely and some aren't, so to get to the bottom of that, I find that confidentiality is crucial in doing this, because their reputation are at stake."
As the "pulse of the community," he said it is important for the School Committee to be tuned in.
Tags: candidate interviews, interim appointment, Pittsfield Public Schools, superintendent,
