LONGMEADOW — A mere four days after the Longmeadow Select Board and School Committee voted to fill one of the four open positions on the School Committee with resident and longtime educator in the Windsor Locks Public Schools District Susan Bell, the School Committee hosted their first regularly scheduled meeting with a quorum since the beginning of January on Feb. 5. Topics of discussion included a reorganization of the now four–member committee, as well as the indefinite suspension of the search for a superintendent.

Considering this was a reorganizational meeting, Longmeadow Superintendent Dr. Martin O’Shea opened the meeting and called it to order.

School Committee member Bronwyn Monahan made a motion to appoint Armand Wray as Chair of the School Committee for the remainder of the 2018–2019 school year. Her motion was seconded. By roll call vote, Monahan, Bell, and School Committee member Ryan Kelly voted in favor of Wray becoming the Committee’s new Chair. Wray then took over the meeting from O’Shea.

“I’m humbled, thank you. I truly appreciate it and look forward to working with everybody,” Wray stated. “I’d also like to extend a warm gratitude to the cabinet and to Marty and all of the leaders and all of the teachers for never taking their eyes off the children of this district, no matter what transpires elsewhere. This board has a lot to do to bridge the trust and I will do everything in my power to make sure that happens.”

Moving back to appointments, Kelly moved that Monahan be appointed to the Committee’s Vice Chair position for the remainder of the 2018–2019 school year. The motion was seconded by Bell.

“I think Bronwyn’s done a great job so I think she should be vice chair,” Kelly put simply. The members all voted in favor of Monahan becoming Vice Chair of the School Committee.

Monahan then moved that the School Committee appoint Kelly as Clerk of the School Committee for the remainder of this school year. The motion was seconded by Bell. Each member proceeded to vote in favor of Kelly becoming chair.

Moving on in the meeting, Wray explained that there are two pressing committee assignments that needed to be addressed. Both, which Kelly was appointed to handle, included the signing of Accounts Payable Warrants and Payroll Warrants.

Continuing, O’Shea began to discuss the 2019–2020 school year calendar. The 2019–2020 school year calendar was previously approved by the School Committee, however before it was sent out to families, O’Shea explained, they realized that there were a couple of holidays which were placed incorrectly. With this new calendar, the holidays are placed correctly and a professional development day was moved. Additionally, the end date of the 2019–2020 school year was moved from June 16 to June 17 should there be no snow days. The School Committee approved the calendar unanimously.

Town Manager Stephen Crane came before the School Committee and offered a “status report on the search for a consultant for the superintendent.” He noted that in short, this process was on hold. The town received one proposal after sending it out to 14 firms.

“There are some concerns, I received a letter from a resident raising some concerns about things that had happened before the formalized RFP process had begun that may have had, what they termed, a chilling effect on the response rate. I’ll be candid and say that I found that argument somewhat compelling based on my experience doing many procurement processes,” Crane explained.

He then shared that he had appointed a Selection Committee to review proposals, potentially interview firms and then to make a recommendation back to the School Committee. Crane stated that he reached out to the Selection Committee to set up a meeting, however it did not happen as all members did not get back to him.

“Had that meeting happened I was going to advise to the Selection Committee that perhaps a discussion about an alternative pathway forward was in order given the concerns that were raised, the concerns that I personally had about the proposal and the level and quality of the response,” Crane said. “There were a variety of factors that were highlighted that could have resulted in only getting one response, including the duration the RFP was open, some of the, I’ll just say publicity, given the situation surrounding the School Committee at the time, and other factors. I hope to have the chance to talk that out with the Selection Committee and get their input in deciding where to go.”

Monahan asked Crane if it would be possible to suspend the superintendent search. Crane responded, explaining that they were doing the search in support of the School Committee and his recommendation to the Selection Committee was going to be, “is there a different way we can go about this?”

“Yes, if the School Committee took a position to suspend the search, of course we would do that,” Crane said.

Wray stated that given the School Committee will be hosting interviews for the open seats on the Committee on Feb. 25 with the Select Board, he would entertain a motion to suspend the superintendent search indefinitely. The motion was made, and the four School Committee members unanimously voted in favor of it.

To watch the meeting for yourself, go to LCTV’s livestream at https://livestream.com/longmeadow/events/8553906/videos/186902446.