City superintendent search down to three

LACONIA — The search for a new superintendent of city schools has been narrowed to three candidates, and all three met with residents and others this week.

Two of the sessions were held Tuesday, while the final session was held Wednesday. School Board members did not attend the sessions but held them so parents, residents, teachers and other school district personnel could have their own sessions and ask their own questions.

•Russell Holden is currently the superintendent at the Sunapee School District who earned his bachelor’s degree at Springfield College, his master’s in education at Fitchburg State College and his Certificate of Advance Graduate Studies and Plymouth State College.

A former physical education teacher, Holden was the assistant principal at Spaulding High School, the principal at Alton Central School K-12, the principal of Prospect Mountain High School, the principal at Belmont High School, and the assistance superintendent of the Camden/Rockport School District in Rockport, Maine.

He told the audience of about 15 people that some of the challenges faced by the Laconia School District are very appealing to him. He also said that from the minute he walked in, he realized what a sense of pride all of the Laconia schools had.

In his previous roles and if he were selected to be superintendent in Laconia, he said individual education and making sure that every child had one adult in the school system he or she could trust and go to for advice.

He recalled that Laconia High School is “much different” than the last time he was there and that the improvements “shows that you care.”

“This community values its school,” he said.

When one parent asked why he would pick Laconia when the local and state-side media give it “such a bad rap” as far as drugs and poverty are concerned, he said he appreciates the underdog. He added that to countering bad press, the district should tell the story of all good things that happen, primarily by using social media like Twitter.

He said that technology is a tool and an agent for change and it should be integrated with curriculum and education. He said the district has a technology director who is there to make the systems run properly, to understand the education and watch how the two go together.

When asked about collective bargaining agreements and managing to get a budget passed by the Laconia City Council, Holden said he worked extensively with that in Rochester, which is also a tax-cap city. He said the school district must work with the taxpayers both to help them understand how important the school is but to also understand how important their tax dollars are to them.

He said teachers make a “good living” but not a “great one,” and good negotiations and contracts help both the unions and the taxpayers and above all it must be “fair and equitable.”

• Mary Moriarty was the second candidate interviewed by the residents at Monday’s event and is the current assistant superintendent in the Rochester School District. A long-time Laconia resident, she has taught math at the Winnisquam Regional School District, was the head of the Math Department at the Gilford School District and was the assistance principal at the Gilford High School. She was the principal of the Newfound Area School District/Bridgewater-Hebron Village School and the Curriculum Director at the Rochester School District.

She earned her bachelor’s degree at Plymouth State College, her master’s in education at Plymouth State College and her CAGS at Plymouth State University.

Moriarty told the audience she has been part of the budget process, participated in collective bargaining agreements and worked in curriculum assessment. She said she began her career as a high school math teacher, became the math chair in Gilford, but then became an elementary school principal because she wanted to better understand why the students performed as they did once the got to high school.

While she is a natural math teacher, she said student emphasis on reading is paramount.

“The most critical thing we can do is to have good strong readers,” Moriarty said.

A first-generation American, she said her parents placed at lot of emphasis on education from her childhood.

“My job is to fight for opportunities for students even if they don’t have anyone working for them at home,” she said.

She said she doesn’t know enough yet about the Laconia School District but noted one of the key problems faced in Rochester was attendance. Moriarty met with families continually who had children with attendance problems and wasn’t afraid to involve the police in her endeavors.

She said she was really impressed with the facilities in the Laconia School District and said they appear very well maintained “Laconia had continually chipped away despite losing building aid,” Moriarty said.

As to technology, she feels its not a separate piece to education and feels programs for integrating technology and curriculum should be well packaged for both teachers and students.

As for Stand Up Laconia, she said she is not personally involved but her husband is. She described the grassroots program designed to keep young people off drugs and alcohol as another example of Laconia pride.

•Brandan Minnihan is currently the Superintendent of the Conval or Contoocook School District which in in the Peterborough area of the state. Previous to this, he was the assistant superintendent of the Fall Mountain Regional School District, the assistant principal at the Hampstead Middle School and the computer integration teacher at the Hampstead Middle School.

He earned a degree in economic management from Carnegie-Mellon University, his master’s at the University of Pennsylvania and his Ed. D at Indiana University.

During his time in Sunapee, he was the first superintendent of a smaller school district that had broken away from a larger one. As such he said he was highly involved in curriculum development, student services and grant writing.

If Minnihan were to describe his management style, he said he would be a service leader. “I will support the staff in whatever way I can to support the kids,” he said.

He said that at the end of every school year, he picks a name from a hat and gives that teacher a day off while he teaches the class. While he primarily taught at the middle school level, he said this past year he taught a class of young elementary students which was quite a learning experience.

Minnihan said he has taught math, science, technology integration and religion while at a private school.

When asked why he wanted to come to Laconia, he said he likes the idea that it is it’s own community, that the School Board size is “doable” and that Laconia holds a lot of things at basic levels. He said of the 10 or so superintendent openings throughout the state, he only applied to Laconia.

He said he’s had a lot of experience working with Laconia School District administrators noting especially that when former State Director of Education Lionel Tracy designed its Follow the Child program, Laconia schools were already using the model.

He said his strengths include building relationships with the community and with parents. He also likes that much of the “key” staff members have been there a long time, including Business Administrator Ed Emond, former Superintendent Terri Forsten who spent 20 years in the district and Bob Champlin before her who worked his way up from being an elementary school teacher her.

When asked about his perceived weaknesses, he said he sees things in the “big picture” and can be slow to make decisions.

His goal is to tailor education to each individual student, which he knows will take time but thinks it’s something everyone in the district should be working towards.

Minnihan has developed budgets but has never worked with a City Council before. He said it is his job to make sure the council understands why the district needs the requests so they can feel good about funding them.

He said he has negotiated two three-year collective bargaining contracts while at Sunapee.

As to working with a poorer population than he is used to, he said his goals aren’t just to work with the easiest students but to be the champion of every staff member who teaches all of the students. He said he’s learned that Laconia has a number or organizations like Freedom Found that appeal to students and likes to see those kinds of programming.

As to STEM education, he said he supports it as long as the students who want to take those kind of classes are interested in them. “But if kids have a passion for the arts, history or the humanities that’s good, too,” he said.

Minnihan also said the learning to do math, read and perform other language arts are the basic keys to any education, whether it’s in the humanities, language, STEM or arts.