By Adam Swift
The Revere school committee dipped its toes into the process it will take to hire a new school superintendent at its committee of the whole meeting last week.
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Dianne Kelly is retiring after 32 years in the district next July, giving the committee almost a year to find a replacement.
Before touching on what the process will look like in the coming months, several committee members offered up praise for Kelly’s time as superintendent.
“You have been the cornerstone of our Revere educational system as a whole, and you are irreplaceable,” said Mayor Patrick Keefe. “I want to make sure everyone knows that this was not a sought resignation; this was Dr. Kelly realizing that there is a point in everyone’s life … that it’s time to take your own time and enjoy your retirement.”
School committee member Stacey Bronsdon-Rizzo was on the hiring committee that selected Kelly as superintendent over a decade ago.
“We’ve been honest with each other – good, bad, indifferent – but we’ve always respected each other’s ideas and the hard work that both of us have done,” she said.
School committee member Stephen Damiano said he appreciated Kelly’s hard work and devotion, and that she always provided information and answered any questions he had.
“Coming into this, you have all sorts of preconceived notions about how you were going to be and working with a new school committee member and a new school committee,” said school committee member Aisha Milbury-Ellis. “I have to say that I’m so happy that I consciously made the choice to come in with an open mind and without any preconceived notions about you, because although we didn’t always agree on every topic and we fought tooth and nail against certain things, there was always a path forward, and I believe that was because of a mutual respect for one another.”
School committee vice chair Jacqueline Monterroso said Kelly is a shining example of what a homegrown pipeline through the school system looks like, coming into the system as a teacher and rising through the positions.
“I don’t think people understand how political this position can be, especially working with the city and having the mayor as a chair,” said Monterroso. “I think only you will know all that you have carried in your heart and on your shoulders to make this district what it is.”
Monterroso also said the school committee has to now get down to the business of establishing a superintendent search subcommittee composed of no more than four members.
“Once we form that subcommittee, we should talk about what that looks like for us,” she said. “Personally, I would love to have something modeled that hasn’t been in Revere before; so having students, teachers, administrators, union leadership being a part of it.”
Having that greater involvement could mean having focus groups or interviews or other avenues of transparency and feedback with the community as the search gets underway.
Committee members also discussed whether they want to bring in the Massachusetts Association of School Committees or another consulting group to assist with the search process.