by Frank Schroth
He’s back . . . maybe. The school committee in a 3-1-2 vote approved former school committee member Glenn Pavlicek as the next Assistant Superintendent of Business for the Milton Public Schools. The appointment, which was the recommendation of Superintendent Mary Gormley, is contingent on Pavlicek being cleared for take off by Ethics Commission and successful contract negotiations.
Unlike most senior positions in the district (e.g.Principal), the Assistant Superintendent is appointed by the School Committee. Gormley reviewed the process and timeline regarding the search. A committee was convened and began the search in early February. A final candidate was selected from the 15 applicants who applied but he ultimately declined the position. The search was reopened in early May. Ten applied. Two finalists emerged with Pavlicek ending up as the one Gormley would “enthusiastically recommend” to the school committee for their consideration. Ms. Gormley apologized for jumping the gun slightly. She made the choice on May 30th. The search was to have remained open until the 31st. No additional applications were received on that day. In fact, none had been received after May 14th.
Ms. Gormley cited Mr. Pavlicek’s experience in town, specifically as schools committee member, member of school building committee, and member of the warrant committee, stating that his “outstanding work [engaged] the entire community.” She closed saying that the response to his selection was “as positive as any committee I have sat on.” The search committee included Committee member Padera, Asst Superintendent Phelan, MHS principal James Jette, Director of Consolidated Facilities Bill Ritchie, Unit A/B rep Steve Traister, and Jackie Morgan, Director of Food Services.
The committee then interviewed Mr. Pavlicek in open session. Mr. Zullas and Ms. Padera recused themselves from the discussion and would later abstain from the vote. There were 12 questions asked in turn by the remaining 4 members; Walker, Kelly, Bagley-Jones, and Sheridan. The questions were standard fare: why are you best qualified? what would colleagues identify as what they like / dislike about you?, where is might things be improved etc. One question asked by Ms. Kelly was “Describe your understanding of our budget process?” Pavlicek identified the school site councils as a critical piece of that and that the budgets worked their way up from them. “The path to the product is as important as the product itself.” he said.
No one asked Mr Pavlicek why he wanted the job. He brought it up in his closing remarks. He said that had someone asked him several weeks ago where he would be and what he would be discussing his fielding questions from the school committee as a candidate for asst superintendent would not have been one of them. But Ms Gormley reached out and the opportunity intrigued him. After reflecting on it he came to believe that it would be an interesting thing to do and that he could possibly add value. He told the committee that he had a job and one he was happy with. “It’s up to you folks. . . I am willing to try if you are.”
With the exception of Ms. Kelly, they are. The vote was 3-1-2 to accept the superintendent’s recommendation. Sheridan, Walker, and Bagley-Jones voted for. Ms. Kelly voted against and Zullas and Padera abstained. Mr. Zullas explained that he and Ms Padera had received financial support for their candidacies for school committee from Mr. Pavlicek and wanted to avoid any “taint” whatsoever in the selection process. They stepped away from the table during the discussion and interview. They returned for the vote.
Ms. Kelly said the school committee had a higher standard regarding conflicts of interest and those standards were reflected in their policies. While she said Mr Pavlicek was “an outstanding citizen of Milton” she had an issue with him taking the position after he had just walked off (i.e. resigned from the school committee). She reiterated that it was not the person but the process and recommended waiting a year. Mr. Walker agreed that their standards were more stringent he noted that there was no specific policy on this particular situation. Ms. Kelly did not detail what the conflict might be and she was not swayed by Mr. Walker.
The motion to appoint Mr. Pavlicek passed contingent on a written note from the ethics commission and negotiation of a contract. It should be noted that Mr. Pavlicek said he had contacted the ethics commission and they did not identify any conflict.
Other business included but was not limited to an update on Kindergarten and 1st Grade enrollments. Space is tight.
The kindergartens are full with the exception of Tucker. The maximum enrollment that the administrative team has set is 22 per class. There is a co-taught class at Glover with a maximum of 18. Tucker has five slots available. There are 3 applications that are currently incomplete. Any new students will go to Tucker.
As of now there are 165 students enrolled in 1st Gr French for the fall and 147 in English. There are 9 families that did not get their choice and there are 9 families that are new to the 1st grade. The enrollment is still fluid and Mr. Phelan expects some changes between now and the beginning of the school year.