School Committee

Salem Public Schools School Committee Yamily Byas​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Mary Manning Beth Anne Cornell, Vice Chair ​ ​ Veronica Miranda AJ Hoffman​ ​ Megan Stott Mayor Dominick Pangallo, Chair “Know Your Rights Under the Open Meeting Law, M.G.L. c.30A § 18-25 and City Ordinance Sections 2-2028 through 2-2033” REVISED April 29, 2026 SUPERINTENDENT SCREENING COMMITTEE MEETING Notice is hereby given that the Superintendent Screening Committee will meet on Thursday, April 30, 2026 at 6:30 pm. This meeting will be held in person at 29 Highland Ave., Room 227. The agenda is as follows: 1) ​ Call of Meeting to Order 2)​ Roll Call Attendance 3) ​ Approval of Regular Session Minutes of April 15, 2026 4) ​ Summary of Superintendent Preliminary Interview Questions from Members 5) ​ Development of Superintendent Preliminary Interview Questions 6) ​ Future Meetings 7)​ Adjournment ​ Respectfully submitted by, Shirley Dorai ​ ​ ​ Executive Assistant to the School Committee & Superintendent 29 Highland Ave, Salem, MA 01970 Phone: 978-740-1212 Email: sdorai@salemk12.org  Salem Public Schools SUPERINTENDENT SCREENING COMMITTEE Virtual Meeting April 15, 2026 Minutes Members In Attendance:​ AJ Hoffman Laura Assade Ann Berman Tia Brown Yamily Byas Elisa Castillo Yamilis Cruz Juan Encarnacion Robin LoConte Leveille McClain Monieke McNeil T RAF Member/s Absent:​ ​ Others In Attendance: ​ Veronica Miranda Lola Rawley Nikki Whittaker Jenelle Gibney Mary Aicardi and Monica Visco - Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center for Public Management Call of Meeting to Order Chair Hoffman called the meeting to order at 6:42 pm. Introductions D Members introduced themselves. Screening Committee Charge Mary Aicardi from the Collins Center summarized the charge and provided information on the work that had already been done. Discussion of Process and Timeline A brief description of the process was provided and the dates for future meetings were discussed. The committee agreed on scheduling the next meeting on Thursday, April 30th at 6:30 pm at Collins Middle School. 1 Members were informed that they would be receiving resumes and cover letters on May 1st via a secure link. The next meeting date would be either May 5th or 6th, with preference for May 6th. Dates for confidential interviews were tentatively scheduled for May 13-14, 16 with back-up dates on May 18-20. Summary of Survey Responses A brief summary of the input survey responses was provided. There were over 180 responses. Development of Superintendent Preliminary Interview Questions The Collins Center representative briefly described the sample questions and explained that members should identify their top two topics. Members can also come up with their own questions based on responses from the input survey as well as the position profile. In response to a question raised by a member, Mary Aicardi said that the questions asked during the confidential preliminary interviews would be short questions and they cannot be personalized to a candidate as it can impact the integrity of the interview. The Superintendent Screening Committee members could also recommend questions to the School Committee. Mary Aicardi mentioned that she would be sending an email by this week asking members to prioritize their top 4 topics of questions to ask. Each member would ask the same question to all candidates. Once the responses from all members are gathered, the Chair will designate a topic to each committee member for which they would be asked to formulate a question they want to ask during the interviews. Questions need to be submitted to Mary Aicardi by April 27th. At the meeting on April 30th, the committee would finalize the questions and schedule the preliminary interviews. Upon request from one of the members, each member related what motivated them to be a part of this process. Superintendent Applicant Update Members would be provided with the resumes and cover letters of all applicants. The members would then be asked to identify candidates for preliminary interviews. Discussions would take place for the applicants who received mixed reviews from members. In response to a question, Chair Hoffman said that if the Superintendent Screening Committee is not able to recommend any suitable candidates to the School Committee, the School Committee would decide on hiring an Interim Superintendent for the school year. The recruitment process would be revisited in the fall and preference would be given to the current members of the Superintendent Screening Committee to be a part of the new Superintendent Screening Committee that would be set up. 2 Adjournment Veronica Miranda made a motion to adjourn at 8:18 pm. Yamily Byas seconded. A roll call vote was taken. Laura Assade voted YES Ann Berman voted YES Tia Brown voted YES Yamily Byas voted YES Elisa Castillo voted YES Yamilis Cruz voted YES Juan Encarnacion voted YES Jenelle Gibney ABSENT Robin LoConte voted YES Leveille McClain voted YES Monieke McNeil voted YES Veronica Miranda voted YES Lola Rawley voted YES Nikki Whittaker voted YES Chair Hoffman voted YES Motion passed with 14 votes in favor and 1 absent. Respectfully submitted by, Shirley Dorai ​ ​ Executive Assistant to the School Committee & Superintendent 3