Ten Recruiting Firms Submit Proposals to be NPS’s Superintendent Search Consultant

— City’s Request for Proposals Emphasizes Community Meetings
and Outreach to Racially Diverse Candidates —

The deadline for submission for Newton’s RFP for executive search firms was July 14, and the City received ten responses, including two from nonprofit organizations: Massachusetts Association of School Committees and New England School Development Council. The RFP specified that proposals should include the firm’s specific plans for between four and ten community focus groups, each with no fewer than twenty participants, as well as between three and ten smaller group interviews with individuals selected by the “School Committee/Superintendent Search Committee.”

The RFP also cited as Minimum Criteria the firm’s length of search experience, and the requirement that the Proposer “must be dedicated to attracting a wide pool of highly qualified racially and demographically diverse applicants. The proposer must present a detailed plan for how they plan to successfully draw a wide range of diverse candidates for recruitment.”  The emphasis on diversity is generally consistent with recruitment guidance from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents.

The authorship of the RFP document was the subject of some discussion during the June 21st School Committee meeting.  Committee Chair Tamika Olszweski thanked the Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance, Liam Hurley, for his team’s work in composing the RFP. However Committee Member Paul Levy pointed out that the Committee did not have input into preparing the RFP.  The Assistant Superintendent replied that the authors of the RFP looked for comparison at other districts that had recently completed searches and offered to send the entire Committee the RFP for review.

The RFP describes the school district as follows:

“The NPS district is a high performance urban/suburban system, dedicated to providing an excellent and equitable education to its residents through small class sizes, strong school-based systems and structures, and a variety of specialized staffing positions to bolster student academic and social emotional support. NPS believes that a diverse faculty and staff is essential in creating a sense of connectedness and belonging for all students and can encourage increased success among groups that have been traditionally underrepresented.”

The School Committee has not yet stated whether all nine School Committee members, or only the three Search Committee members, will make the selection.  The RFP does not address this, stating only:  “There will be no public opening of Proposals. The names and addresses of all parties submitting proposals will be recorded and the proposals will then be provided to the School Committee/Superintendent Search Committee members selected to evaluate them.” 

A decision on the selection of a search consultant is expected no later than August 15, which is the RFP’s anticipated start date of the search firm’s contract.