Left In Lowell

I am not sure what the School Superintendent hopes will occur differently when we go back out there to search for the new Lowell High School headmaster.

Today’s Lowell Sun has the article by Jennifer Myers’ Search continues for LHS headmaster which gives you the background story.

Lowell was not successful in finding a suitable Headmaster for LHS. Why did we not get more than 13 applicants? No one is sure. Tonight during their regular scheduled bi-weekly meeting, the Lowell School Committee heard the Superintendent’s report, which was followed by an extensive discussion.

I agree with School Committeeman Jim Leary, get a recruiter. The ads are going to be placed in the same publications. Who are we going to attract that we did not before?

There was a lot of, and I mean, a lot of discussion on the salary range. There is a school of thought (excuse the pun) that the small difference between what the current headmaster makes and what the leaders of his team at LHS make is so low that it is obvious that a lot of qualified individuals probably said, I do not need that headache.

The Committee gave the Superintendent a couple of potential options: recruiter or change the salary. And then there is the issue of “restructuring” the leadership team at LHS.

What is disturbing about this search and its “failure” and here I echo School Committeewoman Alison Laraba, we should be able to find someone who has drive, ambition and wants the challenge; and let the salary be secondary. Where is that person?

As a taxpayer and a LHS alumni it is a bit frustrating that we knew years ago that the current Headmaster was going to retire; of course, he kept moving the date and we got rid of Karla because she wanted to bring about the change. But here we are about 4 months away from his retirement date and we do not have anyone to lead the high school.