2 things we learned from Mayor Wu about Boston’s school superintendent search

The Boston School Committee will soon commence on a search to find the next chief executive of Boston Public Schools, with an aim to have a new superintendent in place in the next four months.

The group, which selects the district’s superintendent, is slated to have its first meeting to discuss an overview of the search process on Tuesday evening, a week after officials announced, suddenly, Superintendent Brenda Cassellius will step down from the job at the end of the current school year.

Mayor Michelle Wu spoke about the search ahead on GBH News’s “Morning Edition” on Monday.

“We’re looking for our School Committee to partner with the community to help move quickly in the search, but to find someone who can hit the ground running,” Wu said. “We don’t have the luxury of being able to waste any time and getting right to work for Boston Public Schools and our school communities.”

Here are two things we learned:

There is no ‘short list’ right now.

“We don’t have any names as of right now,” Wu told the radio station.

The search committee has yet to be formed, and Wu expects the School Committee will be “very diligent” in bringing together a diverse group.

“I share a sense of urgency with many of the leaders and other stakeholders that I’ve spoken to, with families across the district, that we really need to not only keep up progress, but accelerate it in Boston Public Schools because there has just been so much stress and so many of the disparities have been deepened during the (COVID-19) pandemic,” Wu said.

Wu believes the district needs a superintendent “who is able to hit the ground running, who ideally is familiar with the district, with our city, and our communities.”

“There’s a lot of turnover right now,” Wu said. “I think something like 18 of the 50 largest school districts are in the midst of superintendent searches. So there’s a lot of changeover all across the country, and we’re hoping that Boston’s search will bring people who really see the beauty, the potential, the energy, and the excitement here in our city.”

Wu doesn’t have a ‘set mold’ that she is pushing for in an ideal candidate.

When Wu says an ideal candidate is familiar with the system, that doesn’t necessarily mean BPS, exactly.

Asked to elaborate, Wu said she thinks that familiarity “could come in a number of different ways.”

“You could have someone who is familiar with Boston, but maybe not formally within our school district,” Wu said. “You could have someone who’s familiar with the role of a superintendent and would be able to ramp up quickly.

“So I don’t have a specific sort of set mold that I’m pushing for, but I know that there’s a lot of talent out there and that this remains — this is — one of the most exciting places to work, and we’re going to make sure that Boston Public Schools attracts a whole team of top talent to really dig in for our young people.”

Tuesday’s virtual School Committee meeting begins at 6 p.m.

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