What Is Important to You Regarding the Next ARPS Superintendent?

Jennifer Shiao’s School Committee Blog, With a Listing of Times and Dates for Superintendent Search Community Sessions

Editor’s note: . Jennifer Shiao is a member of the Amherst School Committee. Her original posts can be found here.  An archive of her blog posts in The Indy can be found here.

It is crucial that the Search Committee and the Regional and Union 26 School Committees hear from members of the community about what YOU are looking for in our next superintendent. To that end, McPherson & Jacobson (M&J), the executive search firm for the superintendent search, will be holding a series of community input sessions between Jan 16 and 27, at which participants will be asked to address the following four topics:

1. Tell us the good things about your community.
2. Tell us the good things about your school district.
3. What are the issues in the district that the incoming superintendent should be aware of?
4. What characteristics should the new superintendent have to be successful?

M&J will summarize the input from all of the sessions into a report for the 20-member Search Committee, and for the Regional and Union 26 School Committees.

There will be six sessions open to the public, including a Spanish language session, and sessions which focus on Special Education, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) students and families, and LGBTQIA+ students and families. Community members are invited to join any of the public sessions. Most sessions will be virtual, with one in-person session. Visit arps.org/suptsearch for a schedule of the sessions, as well as updated info about the search or see below.

To provide another way of giving input, an online survey will be launched near the end of January with the same four questions.

Community Sessions:

Any community member is invited to join any session

1. • Wednesday, Jan 17, 7:00 – 8:00 PM General session, Zoom link
   • Monday, Jan 22, 4:00 – 5:00 PM Spanish language session, Zoom link
   • Monday, Jan 22, 7:00 – 8:00 PM Special Education focus, Zoom link
   • Wednesday, Jan 24, 7:00 – 8:00 PM BIPOC focus, Zoom link
   • Thursday, Jan 25, 7:00 – 8:00 PM LGBTQIA focus, Zoom link
   • Saturday, Jan 27, 10:30 – 11:30 AM General session, in-person at Amherst Regional Middle School library

Other Sessions:

1. • Wednesday, Jan 17, 2:55 PM ARHS session for students
   • Wednesday, Jan 17, 4:00 PM APEA, AFSCME, and UFCW members (members should see their email for meeting link info)
   • Thursday, Jan 18, 9:30 AM Directors, direct reports of the superintendent, non-union members (in person)
   • Thursday, Jan 18, 7:00 PM APEA, AFSCME, and UFCW members (members should see their email for meeting link info)
   • Tuesday, Jan 23, 5:30 PM TENTATIVE Special meeting of the Amherst, Pelham, and Regional School Committees (see Boarddocs for meeting info)

This blog reflects my own views about the Amherst and Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committees – it does not represent the view of the committees, the district, or the superintendent. This blog complies with Open Meeting Law, as long as a quorum of School Committee members do not engage in deliberations in the comments. Comments are welcome. I may respond to comments, but I will not respond to all comments. Sign up here using the “follow blog via email” form to be notified when I post a new entry.  You can email me at jennifer@jenniferamherst.org.