Superintendent Hiring Process

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February 7, 2021
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School Committee Aims to Hire Permanent Superintendent by April

By Shravya Sathi

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

COURTSEY PHOTO
Interim Superintendent Dr. Bach.

The announcement of Superintendent Sheldon Berman resigning his post has pushed the School Committee to begin a superintendent search in order to fill the position quickly.

Since the resignation was declared mid-year, the school committee opted for an interim superintendent to fill the vacancy. They plan to use this time to begin the permanent superintendent search and aim to announce the new superintendent in April.

“The interim superintendent role is for six months (January 1 to June 30, 2021),” said Shannon Scully, Andover School Committee chairperson. “An initial team screens [permanent] candidate applications, decides who to interview, conducts first-round interviews, and selects finalists for the full committee to interview in a public session.”

Out of the 14 candidates for the interim position, the two finalists were Kathleen Alward Smith, former Brockton Public Schools superintendent and Salem Public Schools interim superintendent, and Dr. Claudia Bach, former Andover superintendent and Director of Educator Policy, Planning and Leadership at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. In the end, Bach was selected for the position.

“Today, I still believe my main job is supporting the work in our classrooms, be that on our playing fields, in our auditoriums, or even virtually,” Bach stated in an email to APS staff on January 2. “Providing maximum support to our students and their teachers will be my primary work over the next six months.”

This change of power leaves a huge lingering question: How will the new, permanent, superintendent be selected and hired?

The process and timeline for the permanent superintendent search were discussed at the School Committee January 8 meeting.

“We are now in a position to describe the process, and a lot of this information will be going onto a district web page in the coming days,” Scully said, adding that the committee hopes to “engage the community in this effort and to identify a highly qualified and diverse candidate pool.”

Ray and Associates Inc., a nationwide school executive search firm based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was selected. According to the website, the company “specializes in educational executive leadership searches” … and “recruit[s]traditional and non-traditional candidates for public schools, private schools and higher education institutions/organizations.”

“The committee was impressed by Ray and Associates’ commitment to diversity, expertise in facilitating community feedback into the process, and national reach,” Scully said, adding that “the search firm will be issuing a survey to the community to understand the characteristics of a superintendent that the community sees as most important. That survey will be issued shortly and remain open through January 24th.”

The School Committee held meetings for the Andover community from January 19-23. There were two meetings for students, three for parents, one for principals, one for assistant principals, one for other administrators, one for support staff, and so on.

“These will be led by the search firm, with the goal of gaining input from the community on what they would like to see in Andover’s next Superintendent of Schools,” Scully said. Using the information gained and the feedback from the community, the School Committee created a job description in order to recruit candidates.

In February, the main milestones are to identify, recruit, and review candidates alongside help from Ray and Associates. The School Committee also hopes to begin candidate screenings and initial interviews. In March and early April, interviews of first-round candidates will be conducted and the finalists will be announced. There will be an open meeting to interview the final candidates. Community feedback will be collected and the superintendent will be selected by the School Committee by the end of April.

“Selection of the Superintendent is under the purview of the School Committee, and one of the most important things a Committee has a responsibility to do,” Scully said.

Andoverview

AHS Class of 2026 Graduation: A Sentiment of Gratitude

June 11, 2026

Abby Chachus & Kendall Murphy || STAFF WRITERS

A hush falls as a sea of navy gowns, a rising tide of Andover High School graduates enters the Tsongas Center just before 5 o’clock on June 1, 2026. There is something distinct about moments like these. A goodbye that is bittersweet among both the audience and the seniors.

According to Graduation Committee member Ella Murphy, it is a goodbye to “Halloween costume competitions that never disappoint, lunches, wrap lines and vending machine trips,” seemingly inconsequential things, but the memories will stick with all of the students as they move on to their future endeavors.

The graduation speakers shared the value of these moments and their gratitude for the people that helped them along the way. As the ceremony commenced, the opening speakers Zachery Pan and Murphy welcomed everyone and encouraged them to acknowledge their shared experiences at Andover High School. “These moments, these memories, these faces. None of us got here alone.” said Pan.

Their speech gave time to deliver some truly meaningful thank you’s, “beyond the formalities” as Murphy put it, to the teachers and staff that showed up each day with “patience, support, and dedication.” Furthermore, they recognized that this gratitude is not solely meant for the significant ceremonies.

“Gratitude is kind of strange. We tend to save it for the big moments. The ceremonies, the stages, the audiences,” said Murphy.

“But let’s be honest—the people who actually changed your life probably weren’t standing on a stage when they did it,” continued Pan.

They concluded the speech with a request to the graduates to thank those who changed their lives in both the big and small moments, even if it feels unnecessary.

Before graduation, other seniors expressed similar thoughts, like reflecting on the journey that got them to where they are today.

“To all my teachers: thank you for everything. I would not be here without any single one of you.” said Christopher Reardon.

Thomas Enman advised underclassmen to “just enjoy every little minute you get at AHS.”

Vignesha Jayakumar, class essayist and valedictorian, echoed this same sentiment of appreciation, reinforcing Reardon’s message about the lasting impact of teachers and support systems. “We were galvanized from a community of supportive teachers and staff who didn’t just teach us subjects, they taught us how to think, how to question, how to care,” said Jayakumar.

He also mentioned the importance of one learning from their fellow graduates. “We learned as much from each other in the hallways and the bleachers as we did in the classroom,” he said.

After Jayakumar, Graduation Committee members Ben Pelt and Kari Belson spoke. First, Pelt announced the Class of 2026’s class gift to AHS. Next, Belson named Scott Armstrong the 2026 Distinguished Citizen (see page 4).

When Principal Jimmy D’Andrea took the stage, he, like all the other speakers, expressed the value of gratitude, a central theme that resonated throughout the ceremony. He began by thanking each group that got each member of the graduating class to where they were standing in the Tsongas Center, about to leave the comfort of being an AHS student and moving onto becoming alumni, highlighting the strong support system and sense of community that defined the graduating class’s journey.

He also encouraged each graduate to “personally reach out and thank those individuals who made a difference in [their] lives,” reinforcing the ceremony’s message of appreciation, reflection, and recognition for the people who helped shape their high school experience.

Interim Superintendent Keith Taverna encouraged graduates to continue to make the community proud with the positive impact they will bring to the world.

To conclude the ceremony, Graduation Committee members Chloe Ahn and Margaret Farabaugh brought everyone together one last time. “Tonight we stand together because of the strong and spirited community we have built,” said Ahn.

Ahn concluded, “As we become graduates of Andover High School, we step into the world with purpose, passion, and pride… Congratulations class of 2026!”

Students, Faculty Travel to Scandinavia Over Spring Break

June 11, 2026

Samin Faiz || STAFF WRITER

Forty-two Andover High School students and seven chaperones visited Scandinavia this April.

After a six-hour flight from Boston to Reykjavík, Iceland, followed by a two-hour flight to Oslo, Norway, the group began their ten-day-long tour the Thursday before spring break. Through a combination of bus rides, overnight ferries, and countless miles on foot, the group made their way through five Northern European countries: Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Estonia.

“I’ve been traveling with students since 2005, so this might be my 17th tour,” said Brian Shea, English teacher, organizer, and chaperone of the trip. “We’ve now done all of Europe, so Northern Europe was sort of our last frontier.”

Apart from the chaperones, the group was accompanied by a tour director named Yulia, whom Shea worked closely with to structure the daily itinerary and ensure a smooth trip.

In Scandinavia, English is widely spoken, so the language barrier was never a problem for the group. Sometimes, however, the students made connections in ways that transcend the spoken word.

“I played soccer with a bunch of people in Sweden,” recalled Hannah Arnold, a junior who participated in the trip. “That was probably the highlight of the trip for me.”

Arnold is no stranger to international travel. Just two months earlier, in fact, she joined her classmates on another school trip to Peru over winter break. However, for her twin sister, Grace Arnold, this was a brand-new experience.

“I met a lot of new people that I’ve never met before, especially people not in my grade,” Grace said. “It was really nice because I met a lot of great people through that and got to spend time with people I wouldn’t usually get to spend time with.”

The trip offered a flexible balance of group tours and independent exploration. “We had a lot of free time,” Grace noted. “We got to explore cities on our own and shop where we wanted. As long as you stayed in groups of three or more, you were free to roam the city.”

Students observed the region’s distinct economic models. Through agreements within the European Union and the Nordic Council, higher education is heavily subsidized or entirely free for regional citizens.

“It’s really interesting. They tax wealthier people a lot more and their overall tax rates are a lot higher,” one student observed. “The way they reinvest money back into infrastructure contributes to stronger public infrastructure. Education and health care are free, and they even offer stipends to cover the cost of living. Essentially, you pay a lot of taxes, but you get a lot in return.”

Students also noticed the societal impact of these safety nets. “Their unhoused population is significantly lower. If you want help, those systems are available to support you.”

The travelers’ curiosity and maturity left a strong impression on the faculty.

“These kids were wonderful,” said Shea. “All of the students were engaged. They were paying attention. They were enjoying it. They were wonderful travelers. To me, that was the biggest thrill.”

With the preparations for next year’s destinations already underway, the future of travel programs at AHS seems to be brimming with opportunities.

“Next year, we have two tours,” said Shea. “We’re running one tour to Barcelona and Madrid in February, and then we’re running another tour to Greece in April.”

Such opportunities are often highly selective at other schools, but luckily, these trips remain open to the entire student body at AHS.

“There’s no application process,” Shea emphasized. “We’re not looking at grades. We’re not looking at behavioral records. Anybody can sign up when we offer these tours. I put them out there, and I’m like, ‘If you want to go, come.’”

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Superintendent Hiring Process

School Committee Aims to Hire Permanent Superintendent by April

By Shravya Sathi

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