Ball beginning to roll in Norwalk superintendent search

By Nancy Guenther Chapman

NORWALK, Conn. – A “compromise committee” will help lead Norwalk’s Board of Education in its superintendent search, which Chairman Mike Lyons said is on target to produce a candidate by April 15.

The announcement began the board’s sedate holiday week meeting Wednesday night, in which no one from the public signed up to speak. Lyons was not present.

The committee will handle administrative matters in the search, facilitating public participation in the process, Lyons said in a statement read by Vice Chairman Artie Kassimis. The committee of three board members and six community members will not interview candidates.

There had been disagreement over whether to form a committee and what the committee’s duties would be. Lyons called the search committee a compromise.

PROACT, the search firm hired recently by the board, will interview board members one on one over the next week or so to formulate a profile of the ideal candidate. The committee will handle the development of the profile, which will then be approved by the entire board.

Mike Barbis, Rosa Murray and Kassimis will be on the committee, with community members to be announced at the Jan. 9 special meeting.

Lyons said the compromise “preserves the board’s control over the screening and interview process, while allowing enhanced participation of the community in the search process.”