District shares plan for schools chief

In Massachusetts, there are 329 school districts. In Maryland, there are 24. Amid the financial crisis and changing educational needs, more and more districts are looking to merge their operations, according to North Middlesex Regional School District Superintendent Maureen Marshall, who hopes to double as head of the Quabbin Regional School ...

[Fred Wheeler]

In my 30+ years in the business world ranging from small startups to multi billion $ conglomerates and my 16+ years of involvement in two different regional school districts across two states no one person in these organizations are irreplaceable. Organizations are structured to make this true.
If this agreement is approved and the Superintendent is shared between two Districts 40 mile away, what happens if 4 months from now the position of Superintendent of NMRSD becomes vacant ?(PowerBall winner O:) etc..)
Do you hire a new superintendent, unfamiliar with both Districts or hire someone from with in the District?
At the last superintendent vacancy the citizens were extremely vocal in looking beyond the District for candidates to fill the position. It is doubtful that hiring from within would be acceptable.
If a new superintendent is hired how are they going to learn how run this large, fragmented school District?
What happens to the teachers "saved" by the cost savings if we need to hire for only NMRSD?
Are we creating a weak management structure that will not serve either District?
These are the questions and discussions that should be answered .
Fast tracking this is a mistake.
There are other places to save $90,000 in the North Middlesex District.

Fred Wheeler NMRSD committee 2003-2009

[Anonymous]

And, she played the School Committee like fools when she was first hired. She withdrew her name & then reapplied. Anyone with half of a brain could see the game she was playing. She got herself a sweetheart deal from the School Committee by playing her game. She will get what she wants this time...and, it may not be splitting time between the two Districts.....

[Remember]

Add to that, she said when she withdrew the first time that she was considering a part time position that would require her to be out of the district 30 or 40 days a year and she felt she couldn't make enough of a commitment to the students if she was going to be away that often... Now she'll be doing the job part time, with MCAS scores at just about the state average, and the school committee can't wait to sign off on it. Why not just give her a rubber stamp?

[Rob]

Either residents are not letting their voices be heard or the School Committee is not listening.
If the super wants to split her time, let her just split. Goodbye Ms. Marshall. We are tired of your games.

[puzzled]

What happened that the NMRSD Superintendent job suddenly became part-time? Did the School Committee suddenly reduce the job requirements? Can we see the proposed part-time job requirements and the contract? Or was this a done deal back in May without public knowledge or input.

[Anonymous]

She is playing the School Committee like a fiddle. The problem is that she is way too intelligent and savvy for the simpletons on the School Committee...and she knows it!!!

[Anonymous II]

A Dept Head at the HS told her teachers that it was definitely the Super and 3 Assistant Supers who would be working for both NM & Quabbin. If none of this has been worked out, then how would this Dept Head know about it over a month ago????

[puzzled]

Anyone have any experience with formally petitioning a multi-town School Committee? Do you have to get 25% of the registered voters of all member towns?

Acts and Resolves Passed by the General Court of Massachusetts, Special Acts 1916, Chapter 371
section 70 Preliminary Initiative
"Not less than twenty-five per cent of the registered voters of the city may, by a written or printed instrument signed by them, petition the council, or if the matter is solely within the jurisdiction of the school committee, may petition the school committee for the enactment of any ordinance, resolution, or order".

and section 71 if School Committee fails to respond?

[Paying Attention]

Rob wrote:

Either residents are not letting their voices be heard or the School Committee is not listening.
If the super wants to split her time, let her just split. Goodbye Ms. Marshall. We are tired of your games.

During this past Monday's school committee meeting she gave the most fantastic self serving speech imaginable. I was embarassed for her. I'm not making this up - she actually claim she was willing to do anything to save money for the children. But, she back peddled when a former committee member observed it would be much more efficient for her to do the curriculum job. I also recalled the tamtrum she threw when a Townsend seclectman asked her if she was willing to take a pay cut when everyone else was been asked to.

[Paying Attention]

Anonymous wrote:

She is playing the School Committee like a fiddle. The problem is that she is way too intelligent and savvy for the simpletons on the School Committee...and she knows it!!!

Again, during this past monday's school committee meeting it was so obvious that funding was available to recall the remaining teachers that a young lady on the committee made that observation. But no, Dr. M handed them a bunch of jive painting a picture (stacking the deck) to make it appear that it was necessary for her to to her Quabbin thing in order to rescue the remaining teachers. This is a charlatan of epic proportion! Clearly, some or most of the committee members have more than double digit IQ's, why can't they see it?

[Father and Voter]

So if we only need her part time, then make her part time. Make her 18 hours a week,no benefits or car or anything like that. How is it a part time employee gets full benefits and $100K?
And how many teachers will this bring back?? 1,2?
Why do we need a superintendent and why in Gods name to they have to be a PhD or a Masters? Every school district should have CEO, not a superintendent. Make it work and work well with less. Please, exactly what does a PhD have to do as a superintendent nowadays? The curriculum is at the state level and they teach to that and the MCAS. I say bring out the petition--I'll sign it..Good bye Dr. Marshall and don't come back!

[Anonymous]

The School Committee is having another subcommittee meeting with Dr M this Thursday at her office. It is on the district's web-site:
http://nmiddlesex.mec.edu/NMschoolcommittee/S...

We can complain all we want, but this is a done deal. There is no other meeting scheduled until August 29 - after school has already started. She has sweet talked the members of the School Committee....

[nsf]

there is a meeting scheduled for the end of July to vote on this. If it passes the negative fallout will last a very long time and have a negative effect on the quality of education in the District. Public support will disappear...
Who will ever take her seriously or her successor?
When they search for a new supt in 2 years the towns will only support 1/2 time replacement.
This idea benefits only one person and it is not you,me, the teachers, or the kids on the bus.
Do you see any other supt willing to split their time in half?
They think she has lost her mind...

[Due diligence]

The only legitimate purpose of this meeting would be to file suit against Quabbin District for attempting to interfere in the employment contract of a North Middlesex employee.
Or it there some written record that the North Middlesex School Committee majority voted in the affirmative and gave Quabbin permission in writing to hire our employee?
Where are the meeting minutes? None have been published online since June 29. I see no evidence of due diligence here.

[Resident]

Think it is time to move out of Townsend you cannot share a super 40 miles away from each other and the school committe should be reprimanded for this bull.