July 19, 2021 by Carol Britton Meyer
The Interim Superintendent Screening Committee of the Hingham School Committee, with participation by the full School Committee, will interview this week candidates for the position of interim superintendent of the Hingham Public Schools to replace current Supt. of Schools Paul Austin, who is resigning effective July 30.
Members of the School Committee and Screening Committee will conduct the interviews. "Members of the public are welcome to observe," School Committee Chair Kerry Ni told the Hingham Anchor. "We will share the identities of the candidates once they are confirmed, possibly on Monday (July 19)."
The interview schedule is as follows. See the School Committee agendas posted at hingham-ma.gov for the exact times (which may change from the ones already posted as of Sunday, June 18, depending on the candidates' availability):
* Tues., July 20, Town Hall Central Meeting Room South (because School Department Conference Room is booked on that day)
* Wed., July 21, School Department Conference Room
* Thurs., July 22, School Department Conference Room
* Fri., July 23, School Department Conference Room
The role of the Screening Committee is to review applications, conduct background research on qualified candidates, identify and schedule candidate interviews, participate in interviews, and manage related tasks.
The Screening Committee is composed of three members of the School Committee -- Jen Benham, Liza O’Reilly and Kerry Ni -- and the following Hingham Public Schools staff members:
* Director of Business & Support Services John Ferris, representing Central Office
* South School Principal Mary Eastwood, representing the four HPS principals
* K-12 Director of Science Katie Roberts, representing the HPS department directors
* Teacher Heather Sullivan (Hingham Middle School), representing the HPS secondary teachers
* Teacher Wendy Rapson (Foster School), representing the HPS elementary teachers
Members of the public may submit comments and/or questions to the School Committee prior to the interviews. The full School Committee will make the final decision on hiring an Interim Superintendent.
"The interviews will be recorded by Harbor Media, but will not be livestreamed because we don't want to give candidates interviewed later the advantage of knowing the questions in advance," Ni said, and Zoom capability will not be available for these meetings. The Harbor Media video replays of the meetings will not be posted until after the interviews are complete.