By DONNA KENNY KIRWAN

PAWTUCKET — Two days after the School Committee engaged in lengthy squabbling about whether members of the city administration should make up the search committee for a new school superintendent, Mayor James Doyle announced his own plans to organize a search panel.

At the Oct. 13 School Committee meeting, Committee member Joseph Knight drew protests from several of his fellow committee members when he proposed having members of the City Council and the mayor's office sit on any search committee that will choose the replacement for retiring Schools Supt. Hans Dellith.
School Committeewomen Nicole Nordquist and Amy Breault Zolt voiced strong opposition to Knight's plan, saying that the process of choosing a new school superintendent is clearly one in which city politics should not play a role. Committeewoman Joanne Bonollo said she could see the value of having some public participation in the search process, but also voiced concern about the hiring becoming “political” if the administration is involved.
A decision on the search committee was tabled for further discussion and a special meeting on the topic has been scheduled for tonight at 6 p.m. at the School Administration building.
In a letter dated Oct. 15, Doyle informed the School Committee that he has decided “to organize a search committee that will represent the entire community.”
He added that the purpose of this search committee will be “to assist and advise the School Committee in the task of securing the best possible candidate to serve as Pawtucket's next superintendent.”
Doyle told the school board that his search committee “shall consist of two community business leaders, two Pawtucket residents, two School Committee members, one City Councilor,  two current Pawtucket school administrators, a representative of the Mayor's office, Rhode Island Commissioner of Education Deborah Gist or her designee, and a superintendent from a neighboring community.”
In conclusion, Doyle wrote: “At this time, I invite you to forward the names of the two School Committee representatives you wish to have appointed to this community search committee.”
In response to the criticism that his involvement in forming a search committee politicizes the process, Doyle said that he thinks this is “absolutely untrue.” He added, “I feel just the opposite. By virtue of the people I want to put on the committee — people from the business community, a city councilor, the Commissioner of Education — we're keeping politics out of it.”
 “I feel 180 percent the other way —my intent with this committee is to do the research to hire the best person to run the School Department in these dire economic times,” Doyle added. He further noted that all seven School Committee members are politically elected, and therefore not removed from the politics themselves. “They're just trying to put a different spin on it,” said Doyle.
Committeewoman Nicole Nordquist said she was unhappy to see Doyle's letter and thinks the mayor is “completely over-stepping his authority.” “The School Committee is charged with hiring a new school superintendent and it should be the responsibility of the School Committee to put together a search committee, not the mayor's office.” She added, “I will not be a part of it.”

Nordquist said the mayor's letter indicating that an excellent educational system is one of his top priorities is “hypocritical” given the number of times the school system has been level-funded. “There is a constant battle over spending,” she pointed out.  “And, obviously, they want to keep the tensions going.”

School Committeewoman Amy Breault Zolt said she was “totally appalled” by the mayor's decision. She said that the administration and the school board are “two separate entities and he (Doyle) has no right to tell the School Committee how we should hire a superintendent.” “That would be like the mayor wanting to hire a police chief and us saying, 'we want to be on that search committee.' It's ludicrous.”

Committeewoman Joanne Bonollo also said she objects to the mayor's plan. “By law and by our policy, it is the job of the School Committee to make the decision about hiring a new superintendent. It is a decision to be made in the best interests of the children. I don't want to see politics involved.”

Bonollo said she would like to see the search committee to be comprised of educators, parents, and all of the committee members. She said she would also be open to including any city councilor who has children in the public school system “because they have a vested interest.” “If they don't have an interest in the school system, I don't want them on the committee. There are 9,000 kids in the school system and their education depends on this decision.”

Committeeman Joseph Knight said of the mayor's intended action, “I'm happy with it, I agree with it, and I hope my colleagues support it.” Referring to his fellow school board member, he said, “I would think people elected to represent the tax payers would welcome any help they would get to find a suitable school superintendent candidate who can work with all facets of state and local government.”

Knight added that while improvements to the school district have been achieved under Dellith, there is still much work to be done. “We need someone who can think think outside the box and still work within the constriction of our finances.”

Committeeman David Coughlin said he “fully supports the committee that the mayor wants to put together.” He said, “I think it is drawing from an appropriate cross-section of the population, and I don't see it as the mayor over-stepping any boundaries. He added that since the search committee is being formed as an advisory panel, he doesn't think there is any conflict with established policies.”

Coughlin referred to the Oct. 13 discussion among School Committee members on the topic of the search committee as “chaos” and said that Knight “was the only one talking about a constructive model.” Referring to tonight's meeting, the former committee chairman said, “I don't know what path the majority of the School Committee is going in on this topic. I will be interested to see what the majority suggests at tonight's meeting.”

School Committee Acting Chairman James Chellel could not be reached for comment and Committeeman Raymond Noonan told the TIMES he had “no comment.”
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