Decision Expected at April 7 Meeting

-By Joseph Domelowicz

For the Transcript

The Winthrop School Committee will vote to appoint a new superintendent at a special meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. on April 7 at the Cummings School, after site visits with the four finalist candidates are completed early next week.

“So, at this point we have committed to the four finalist candidates, and we will be making site visits to the four candidates home districts the end of this week and next week,” explained School Committee Chairperson Mary Lou Osborne. “It’s going to be a hard choice, we have four great candidates and we really have to thank the screening committee, because they did a wonderful job of picking for great candidates.”

According to Osborne, the schedule for the finalist site visits is as follows:

Paul Schlictman, Coordinator of Research, Testing and Assessment for the Lowell School District on Friday morning, April 1; Dr. Maureen Bingham, of the Swampscott school district on Friday afternoon, April 1. John Macero, principal of the Whelan School in Revere on Monday morning, April 4 and Earl Metzler Jr. principal at North Quincy High School on Monday afternoon, April 4.

“The plan is for us to vote on an appointment at a special meeting on April 7,” explained Osborne.

However, there is still time for members of the public to have input into the process. Since all four interviews were taped and are scheduled to be broadcast at least one more time before the School Committee, Osborne and the committee have encouraged parents and members of the community to watch the interviews and email comments about the interviews to the school committee members before April 7.

Email addresses for all seven school committee members are available by visiting the Winthrop Schools website.

The next scheduled broadcast of the four interviews is Saturday, April 2 from 12 noon until 6 p.m. on WCAT Channel 15.

Osborne also noted that the agenda for the April 7 School Committee meeting is limited, with only one other item on the agenda, a discussion and possible vote on the Town Manager James McKenna’s school consolidation proposal.