School Committee Screens Superintendent Candidates

The Cambridge Public School Committee interviewed the city’s three final superintendent candidates during a public meeting at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School last night.

The finalists—Mary C. Nash, Carolyn L. Turk, and Jeffrey M. Young—were each asked to address the same seven topics in separate, hour-long interviews.

Although parents, school faculty, and community members were present at the meeting, only school committee members were allowed to pose questions. Unlike at Monday night’s town hall forum—during which the finalists introduced themselves directly to city residents—yesterday’s discussion covered subject areas that were selected by the school committee, rather than the public.

The meeting was the penultimate step in a superintendent search that began in December, a month after former Superintendent Thomas D. Fowler-Finn’s early departure. Although committee members will base their decision on a set of criteria derived from community input, the rest of the selection process will not be open to the public.

In last night’s interviews, all of the candidates said they had collaborative leadership styles, emphasizing their intention to immerse themselves directly in school communities.

“This is not a central office position,” said Nash, who is currently the academic superintendent for Boston Public Schools. “This is not a job where you sit in your office and make telephone calls.”

The candidates also touched on the importance of improving special education, which they said could meet a wide spectrum of needs.

“What’s good for special ed children is what’s good for all children,” said Turk, who is the deputy superintendent of Cambridge Public Schools.

In response to a question about how they would work to diminish the city’s achievement gap, both Turk and Young—who is the superintendent of Newton Public School—said they believed holding all students to rigorous standards, regardless of racial and socioeconomic differences, would result in progress in all subgroups.

“I really believe that it’s about high expectations, strong curriculum, and excellence in structure,” Young said.

The school committee also asked each candidate to state their opinions on the city’s K-8 school system.

Turk and Young said that they would determine an action plan based on the recommendations put forth in the 2007 Blue Ribbon Commission report on the state of the city’s middle school education.

“It’s very important that a report like that not get shelved or framed on a wall somewhere,” Young said.

Young, who also noted that he thought that teacher membership in the commission had been low, added that he would remedy this by reconvening the group this summer and inviting more teachers to participate.

Mayor E. Denise Simmons told the audience that committee is tentatively scheduled to make a final selection within the week.

—Staff writer Michelle L. Quach can be reached at mquach@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Sofia E. Groopman can be reached at segroopm@fas.harvard.edu.