School Committee Requires Firms to Demonstrate a History of Diversity for Superintendent Search

The Cambridge School Committee will prioritize hiring a firm with experience selecting candidates who mirror the racial and socioeconomic diversity of their districts as they search for the next CPS superintendent.

In a Tuesday special meeting, Ashley Pierre, CPS Executive Director of Human Resources, presented new requirements to select firms who will assist the district in the superintendent hiring process — highlighting years of experience, number of consultants, and a history of success recruiting diverse candidates as key qualifications.

Vice Chair Caroline Hunter said the requirements “affirm all the goals of the district, particularly our responsibility toward equity and inclusion.” She also noted the increasing hostility toward diversity, equity, and inclusion programs across the nation.

“I’m just concerned about the larger environment we’re working in right now,” she said.

“Not that we’re backing away from our goals,” she added, “but how explicit we are going to state them in terms of what we’re looking for.”

The proposed guidelines require that “the firm has effectively recruited and placed highly qualified women and leaders from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds, such as superintendent schools,” and that “school superintendents are similar leaders in school districts that are both racially and socioeconomically diverse.”

Beyond the diversity requirement, members raised concerns that the increased number of requirements would limit the firms and personnel eligible to assist in the search.

“It’s more work for us, it’s more work for the firm — we should be thinking about the requirements in as judicious a way as possible,” School Committee member Elizabeth C.P. Hudson said. “The longer the list of requirements, the more overhead there is.”

"I’m just concerned that it might be too constraining," Committee member José Luis Rojas Villarreal said.

Pierre emphasized the requirement for five years of experience “because capacity is very important for a search like this, and oftentimes these types of searches are national,” but agreed to change the requirement to three to five years of experience.

Committee member Rachel B. Weinstein asked to change another requirement of having five employees also down to three to five, concerned that some smaller, newer firms may be ruled out.

“Might we be ruling out some small firms that are, you know, have a lot of experience with grassroots and have also done superintendent stuff?” she said. “I don’t want to just end up with some big national firm because they meet the numbers.”

Hunter said the committee should not focus on hiring new firms “given our short timeline.”

“While I’m all willing to assist new firms, I don't think this is a place where we have a chance to take a chance,” Hunter said.

The Committee decided to keep the requirement of having five employees, requiring that three of them be senior consultants.

The committee plans to open invitations for a bid from firms in the coming days and accept offers until the end of February, keeping them on track for their initial goal of extending an offer to a prospective superintendent by Oct. 15 of this year.

— Staff writer Ayaan Ahmad can be reached at ayaan.ahmad@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @ayaanahmad2024.

— Staff writer Claire A. Michal can be reached at claire.michal@thecrimson.com.