Superintendent finalists interviewed

PEPPERELL -- With more than a dozen teachers picketing outside, calling for an end to a yearlong deadlock over their contract, the North Middlesex Regional District School Committee Monday night interviewed three finalists for superintendent.

Maynard Superintendent Mark Masterson, Peabody Superintendent Nadine Binkley, and Quabbin Regional School District's Maureen Marshall fielded questions, shared anecdotes of their travails as administrators, and outlined their visions for public education before a standing-room crowd of parents and teachers.

Committee members said they were impressed with all three finalists and gave no indication of a favorite to succeed James McCormick, who has announced he is leaving his job to pursue a private-sector career. But they expressed some concern that Masterson and Marshall had indicated they were not totally convinced yet in their decision to come to North Middlesex, which serves Pepperell, Ashby, and Townsend.

The committee held off on a vote on a new superintendent, opting to schedule site visits for the finalists to meet with students and staff through this week. The members plan to vote on their final choice Monday and hope the site visits will help persuade the two finalists to lean more heavily toward North Middlesex, they said.

''We have two unknowns here," said Arnold Silva, a Pepperell member. ''I'd like to see them eliminate some of their doubt."

The protests outside the North Middlesex Regional High School, where the meeting occurred, served as an uneasy backdrop to the interviews. Just before the meeting, about 15 protesters stood in a line facing the street, bearing large white signs, reading in bold letters: ''North Middlesex Teachers Want Your Support." Cars occasionally honked as they rolled by in the fading light during rush hour.

Mark Cullen, an eighth-grade teacher at Pepperell's Nissitissit Middle School who was participating in the protest, said teachers across the district are chagrined that negotiations have dragged on for close to a year. The North Middlesex Teachers Association voted recently, 157-88, to reject a proposed contract by school officials, mainly because it would raise teachers' share of insurance premiums to 20 percent from 10 percent, he said.

Cullen said the protests are the first attempt in securing a contract that's agreeable to the teachers union. The situation has not escalated to the point where teachers are prepared to strike, he added.

The dispute inevitably wove itself into the interview process, and the School Committee probed each of three candidates for their histories in dealing with similar contractual disputes.

Binkley described in detail her experience with avoiding a strike, when she was assistant superintendent of the Concord-Carlisle Regional School District.

Masterson suggested that school officials should attempt to strengthen relationships with teachers and resist the temptation to become adversarial. ''I think it's counterintuitive, but I think you should work hard to compliment people," he said.

Marshall said she had negotiated 42 contracts as superintendent of Quabbin Regional and has never had to face a strike or protest. But, like Masterson, she said forging strong alliances with teachers before contract negotiations is essential.

Marshall was a lively and direct candidate who evoked several outbreaks of laughter from the audience during her interview. She said she wanted to leave her job because her district was unreceptive to some of her progressive views on education. Marshall had proposed an Arabic studies program at the school, for example, which met with some opposition from the School Committee and residents, she said. A parent there, she said, had told her once: ''Your dreams are too big for our children."

''My view of public education is enormous," Marshall said.

Masterson described himself as a visible and straightforward leader who listens instead of exerting his authority. ''You really can't be political, in the worst sense of the word," he said.

Masterson touched briefly on the subject of Joseph Magno, a teacher in Maynard who was arrested in January for allegedly molesting a student. Masterson said he reacted swiftly to the incident, which stunned students and staff, hosting a community forum and calling teachers for their input. ''If you talk to the teachers, you will find we responded to that reasonably well," he said.

Binkley emphasized her visibility as superintendent and her passionate interest in curriculum as her defining talents. She sponsored a cable program for the Peabody schools to ''bring the schools out to the community." She cited her formation of special-education centers in Peabody as a key reason behind buoying performance of special-education students there.

When asked about the all the protest signs outside, Binkley smiled. ''When I drove in, I was looking to see if they were welcoming signs," she quipped. ''They weren't."