The Fall River School Committee convened a special meeting on June 22, 2016, with the primary objective of selecting a new superintendent of schools for the Fall River Public Schools. The meeting began with a roll call vote to gauge initial preferences, which resulted in four votes for Dr. Matt Malone, two for Dr. Charles Granson, and one abstention. Following this, an extensive discussion ensued where committee members articulated their support and concerns for both Dr. Malone and Dr. Granson, as Dr. Scott received no support. Key points of discussion included the candidates' budgetary experience, leadership styles, community connections, and ability to work with staff and unions. Supporters of Dr. Malone, including Mr. Andre, Mr. Kougan, and Mrs. Pansley, emphasized his extensive experience with large budgets, strong support from school employees, and perceived growth in interpersonal skills. Conversely, Dr. Costa, Mr. Costa, and Mayor Correia advocated for Dr. Granson, highlighting his professionalism, academic credentials, strong mentorship network, and compassionate approach to special education, while acknowledging his less direct experience as a superintendent. Mayor Correia also noted Dr. Granson's commitment to Fall River, having declined another offer. After a comprehensive debate, a formal motion was made by Mr. Kougan to appoint Dr. Matt Malone as superintendent, contingent on successful contract negotiations. This motion passed unanimously with a 7-0 vote. The committee then voted 7-0 to enter executive session to strategize for negotiations with the newly appointed superintendent, and subsequently adjourned.
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all right good evening everyone okay this meeting of the school committee will come to order the special meeting is that none on is that better yeah okay meeting of the special meeting of the school committee will come to order uh pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any any medium attendees are therefore advised
0:20that such recordings or Transmissions are being made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible can we have a roll call please Mr Andre here Mr kougan here Mr Costa here Dr Costa here Mr Martins here Mrs pansley here mayor K here can have a salute to the flag I pledge allegiance stes stand IND okay so we do not have on this list anyone signed up for public input at
1:00this time no okay and we have in Open Session the first item on our agenda kind of crazy then excuse me first item on our agenda is the discussion and vote to approve the selection of a new superintendent of schools for the fall of Republic schools um so I would uh what I'd like to do give us some thought today but I'd like to get a sense of where everybody's at so
1:28I'm going to ask for a roll call of the individual that you're selecting and then we'll from there have a discussion um you know based on based on where we're at okay we do have a a question yes Mr my only objection to that is I would like to hear how people feel about it before I select who I want to select I would like to have a discussion for
1:48I'd like to have some kind of a discussion first before I say this is who I'm going to pick because I might change my mind after I listen to what my colleagues have to say Okay I'm going to proceed with a roll call of who everybody's everybody wants okay unless there's any other objections is there do I have to have a roll call do I can do that right I can call a roll
2:07excuse me Mr you want a roll call of who we're selecting as of right now that's right and then from there that way we can kind of see where we're all at and discuss and then if your mind changes by the end of the evening then it changes okay good Mr chair yes Mr Martins I uh agree with Dr Custar uh with regards to listening uh having the discussion having the discussion ahead of uh the
2:34vote once you state who you're interested in uh then to have the discussion that that becomes uh rather in my opinion counterproductive uh I I think that I would like I would like to listen to uh the pros and cons of of uh the people the the uh finalists and then uh make up uh you know my vote okay Mr Costa Vice chairman thank you Mr chair this has certainly been a long process um between
3:14the establishment of the search committee the vetting in the search committee um interviews in the search committee finalists and another round of interviews um spent the last several days vetting these candidates with no disrespect to anybody sitting here no comments that I hear tonight is going to change um my decision on my vote and I would hope that members have come to their sensus tonight on or consensus
3:42themselves on who they want to support um I agree discussion is good and we probably should have it I I just think that um nothing I hear here tonight is going to is going to sway or influence uh me in in either direction so um I'll I'll defer to you as the chair uh your position on it but yeah I mean again the intent is to just get it out there
4:05perhaps as a candidate that rises to the top in the first round and it streamlines our discussion for this evening perhaps there's not a candidate and there's a split and you know we can kind of discuss and maybe there is something that does cross somebody's mind tonight that makes it compelling so it's really about streamlining the process we've all interviewed the candidates we've all had the opportunity
4:23to mark up our notes on exactly who they are to do our own independent research to do site visits to call them directly which I've taken the opportunity to do in some cases to call their references so you know that's that's really what the process is about tonight streamlining that uh that decisionmaking process so Dr CER I only would say that for myself um and I said it before and I
4:45I agree with Mr Martin and I can understand certainly exactly what uh uh Mr CA is saying but for myself I came here tonight knowing who I was going to vote for or thinking I was knowing who I was going to vote for and I I'm still open-minded to it I'm I still am not totally sure yet so if it comes to a straw vote I'm going to abstain because that's the best
5:08expression of how I feel right now until we have a discussion I yield okay so we'll we'll have a roll call of individuals and who they're supporting Mr Andre Malone Mr Coogan Malone Mr Costa Dr Charles granson Dr CA abstain Mr Martins Dr Malone Mrs pansley Dr Malone mayor carer Dr granson Who this okay so now the floor is open for discussion so it it seems that nobody nobody supported um Dr
5:50Scott so if if that still stands or if anybody has any opinions about Dr Scott we'll we'll speak about the other two candidates the remainder of our time Mr andreid I I was someone who came in here well I've been I've been back and forth uh for several days uh you look you look at the Der relative merits of one the other and more and more to the point actually looking at their weaknesses because I
6:15think that that that's what this is going to be decided on uh Malone's in particular uh he's he's noted by many people as a loose cannon uh that uh uh unable to work with and that's the issue he has he has the experience he has developed a number of budgets in a number of communities can he work with people can he be circumspect that is the issue and and and that's for for me that that's
6:50exactly what uh uh What uh uh my vote would be decided on uh I I I felt tonight uh based on information uh that I had received tonight that he could do that um I feel that uh in terms of um I know that he has a lot of support among among the uh uh employees of the school department I think that uh when I first ran for this
7:20office uh I didn't need this job uh I I was happily retired uh but I didn't like certain things that were going on um uh I knew that the morale was poor and I didn't want those days to either continue or to uh uh or to return uh they feel uh that uh they will get their due from uh from Dr Malone and uh and that's the the main reason why I support him um now
7:52you Mr kouan um I too uh as obvious ly a lot of us are Educators on the stage some people come from the private sector which creates a great balance for this committee um as the most recent person to leave the Fara public schools and retire I have a tremendous amount of contacts with people that are still in the schools and over and over and over again they have expressed their opinion
8:19to me that they support uh Dr Malone if we're going to take the school district to another level I think we need a working partnership with our teachers our administrators and all of our staff and if they believe they can work with that gentleman after he met with them sat with them um I I'm going to go I'm going to go with them but we're all in this together um I understand the concerns
8:46um about some of his personal skills but I believe he's honed them over the years and from the references that I've heard from other members of the committee they said he seems to be getting stronger and stronger um if they judged me when I first started an education I would never be sitting here I was not a very nice person myself sometimes but I do you do grow up and you figure it out and I hope
9:10he's still learning because this is a job you got to learn on the fly but at this time I'm going to go with the people that work in this district and I'm going to support you and I I do think that that's the way you build a team said he had an open door policy I hope somebody tells me the door's closed and they can't get in because it will be a different
9:27discussion altoe thank you I yield doctor um I tried to put this into perspective first of all I believe that we have three fine candidates and and I would like to once again congratulate the search committee um for the work that they did many hours were spent in this room by many of the people in this room interviewing 10 candidates two hours a piece including the individuals that
9:57ultimately made it to the finals and and I want to say to people who looked at the finalists and maybe found something wrong here or something wrong there that there was not a single person who applied for this job that you couldn't find something in their resume or in their background that if you wanted to you could point to and say that was problematic I think we did an excellent
10:19and I'll say we because I was on the committee but so were many people here today it was an excellent job there was a lot of work to get us to this point so now we're here with with three IND individuals and and one of the things that I said to the search committee um early on in our search committee and and I have to say this the search committee had 14 very different people we
10:40represented a lot of different constituencies we didn't all think alike um I I said right at the beginning let's put it all on the table what is it we're looking for and what I'm looking for and what I was looking for is very different from what some of the people on that search committee was looking for um and we came out with three candidates and I don't think anybody on the search
11:02committee picked all three of candidates that ended up at the finals which says that it was a very Democratic process so I can only as I look at these three candidates say what I said to the search committee you know we share the same hopes for Fall River in the future but for me it comes down to what it is that I'm looking for and I'm certain that it may be different what other people are looking
11:26for what I'm looking for and I said this before so it should be a surprise to people in the search committee I'm looking for a fresh start I want a scholarly collaborative inclusive leader who leads and listens respectfully to All Points of View he combines or someone who combines new ideas with the best of what we already have here and there's a lot that we already have here that's very
11:52good I personally and it's my opinion put less emphasis on familiarity or past relationships and um it was obvious to me that many people on the committee and many people in this community including Educators feel very comfortable with Dr Malone and I escorted him around for five hours and he's a wonderful person I enjoyed being with him I took him to lunch um there was a definite degree of
12:19familiarity there that I think makes people feel comfortable and perhaps less so with uh someone else but I put less emphasis on that my personal opinion um I'm looking for somebody who had has a clear compass and someone who has the ability to self-reflect those are the characteristics that I personally am looking for and when I walked in here this evening and when I left the house
12:44this morning that person was going to be Dr granson that's the person that I really felt uh that I would support now I have to weigh that on the other hand with um some realities the realities of all the people that are leaving our school system all the principles that are leaving um I have to weigh that with the realities that I see that the city council uh didn't approve
13:09a budget last night and I don't really know how that affects our school budget I don't understand it well enough and that those two bits of information cry out for somebody with experience and somebody who's very very strong and that's why I have a dilemma and if I'm asked who who would I vote for right now I think I still would vote for Dr granson but I I certainly can understand
13:36why people would want to vote for Dr Malone I yield thank you Miss patley thank you um I'm just going to take a a a couple of minutes um just to really talk about positives and and maybe some uh weaknesses of both candidates I spent the last couple days with Mr Costa um really betting the candidates going on site visits and you know Dr granson may be our next superintendent I think it's
13:58important to note that I think if he is we'll be fine and he'll do a good job um and I think he brings a lot of strengths I just feel like Dr Malone is a better match so just real quick I typed up some notes I tried to highlight the key words I think I'll just run down those so we won't be at this for too long Dr granson has a very strong Network around him Mr
14:16CA and I got to meet them they are uh very talented group of experienced people and although he lacks some experience I do think that they would be there for him to Mentor him um in in in areas that he may not be you know up to speed on that we that I feel Dr Malone is more up to speed on um he has strong Community connections and Partnerships through Harvard and through some of the
14:38things he's done um I think he could bring some outside financial resources and grants to the district um he was described by one of the reference as a Peaceful Warrior and I I did like that description of someone in contrast to what we may think um Dr Malone you know he might be I don't think he's going to be a Peaceful Warrior but um I I did like that description of Dr granson he
14:59did to his dissertation work um in Fall River on the turnaround work um uh he just from the from in the interviews he seems to know good instruction not that I really know but I've learned the buzzwords over the last two and a half years and maybe he knows the buzzwords too but um he seemed to know what good instruction looked like um speaks about equity and access and civil rights
15:20issues um you know I think that was good um my concerns um with him mainly uh by budgetary experience I I really think that this District needs someone who really knows how to build a budget I the city has moved to the zerob based budget after what we've been through this year I'm on board with that and Dr Malone has talked about that we talked to references that talked about him doing
15:44it we know he studied it for a couple of years and then put it into practice in Brockton obviously you know I'm the mom on the school committee but I also have my MBA and and background accounting that's important to me and I don't I think that shouldn't come to any surprise to anyone it's not just important to me but we also did focus groups right and surveys that was the
16:04number one important thing to to the to the stakeholders whether it be parents teachers administrators the community the people that participated in that said their number one um priority was budgetary experience it concerns me what it would say for the school committee to vote for someone that really hasn't been a superintendent doesn't have that experience it's like we we don't we
16:26don't care what what their number one concern was for the schools um and then um he hasn't spent that much time in one District he's moved around in a couple positions in Springfield a little time in pipsy and and from what I could goner it just seemed like um there were tough times in those in those districts and and maybe you know he couldn't deal with the tough times and I don't think Fall
16:49River is the easiest I don't think the school committee is the easiest and I'm afraid I don't and I'm afraid um I'm a little concerned that maybe he wouldn't be able to deal with all the person alities and the throw up in Fall River and and the pressure that might come in a district in Fall River and I want someone who I think can can handle it and stick it out and and that all being
17:07said if he's our superintendent I'm going to be right there on day one to support him and do everything I can to make sure he sticks it out and I think he'll I do think he can be great and he does have a great Network I don't want to make it seem like I would be nervous if he was our superintendent then about Dr Malone I already talked about the budget in relation to Dr Granton just
17:27the opposite with Dr Dr him alone quite frankly um leadership educational leadership was rated second his references discuss that in a very positive light we talked to um the Dr Roy equivalent in SAS who had nothing but great things to say about the leadership that he brought in the short time he was there and how disappointed the central office and principls were when he left but you know there were
17:52circumstances that with the change over in the school committee that really um made things turn negative but felt that they had direction for the first time in a long time that they could really um really uh you know grab on to um he talks about you know his him and his reference talk about how he loves to be in the classroom how he works 247 Um passion for urban District I just
18:17really felt deep down in my gut when he would talk I I just really felt that um we also talked to um I don't remember his name but the attorney for the Brockton administrators Association who said he was one of the best superintendant that he's ever dealt with um and really felt like the collaboration with between the union and Dr Malone was great great and I think that's important um and then my concerns
18:41with him were really alleviated after I spoke to his references yesterday I can I was concerned that he couldn't listen because he does like to talk and and will he listen and um after talking to four um different people including the former mayor of Brockton the uh attorney for the Union the the woman in SAS and the deputy superintendent in Brockton I really did not have those concerns
19:04anymore they felt like maybe when he was younger um that he had you know certain ways and that he had really grown and developed and that he really can work with others that he really can collaborate that he's a true leader um and they really described him the way he described himself and with Dr Malone sometimes it may be a little hard to weed through some of the bravado but if
19:25you can they really um they really backed up everything thing that he you know said and of course you're giving references of of people that uh are going to talk positively but I would say going through this process over the last three days and talking to people's references they brought up some negative things about all the candidates and but I felt like they really addressed my
19:45concerns and um to what Mr Coogan said it's very important to me that you know the teachers and administrators that have reached out to us um you know have been very supportive of Dr Malone and I think he'll bring enus iasm and I think he'll keep the morale up and that's really important to me because after all I'm not in the schools I'm not working with children I don't have any impact
20:06direct impact on what children do and you do and the people in the schools do um and it's important very important to me that they are um supportive of who comes in so that's why I'm supporting Dr Malone that's not going to change no matter what anyone says and not no matter what anyone says tonight because I've done all my homework um over the last couple of months so with that I
20:27yield thank you just have a quick question um Mr spanley when you interviewed um Dr granson people did you have access to anybody you wanted or were the references that he provided it was sort of like a site visit where he put the people in the room okay yeah thank you m Mr Mars the um two candidates Dr granson and Dr Malone um uh each have certain negatives Dr granson uh lacks experience in handling large
21:10budgets uh our budget is 135 M approximately 135 million plus about 26 million in Grants uh and uh he you know he lacks experience in handling that uh Dr Malone uh has experience in handling large budgets but has experienced some uh difficulties with past School committees um I look at uh what they have said people have said and people have been calling me uh emailing me expressing their points of view which
21:51I greatly appreciate um and it's a difficult task in finding uh are making a vote uh um the inexperience of handling a large budget is of concern uh to me because of the fact that I don't see the Fall River Public Schools doing anything but net School spending as the the the maximum uh in there and uh uh and as far as uh past uh troubles with school committees
22:34uh I don't know the all the details of what it was it's just what I could I could find I and uh from my perspective if he's not being cooperative with uh the school committee I don't have any problem whatsoever by uh stating that hey cool your heels uh that you know this is how it's going to be you work for the school committee school committee does not work for you
23:06uh in there and uh this is what you're going to do now if you like it fine uh we get along well you don't like it there door uh and you can you can leave um so uh you between the one having uh a great amount of experience but has had some uh trouble with the uh past Gro committees and I don't know again the don't know the depth of that
23:40um he is a little hyperactive I agree uh in there um uh but when I think he's a he's a workos uh and uh can do a good job and it's up to the school committee uh I don't want to use the word would control but nevertheless to say hey what does the what does the city of Fall River the community the parents want for their children from the educational
24:11system uh in here and uh then if this is what they want then uh fine now that's your direction make sure it happens and um we'll get into contract negot negotiations whether they be Grant Mr granson Dr granson or gr Dr alone uh in you know in due time but um you know the contract negotiations are are utmost importance to me the average or the medium income for a family of four in fall river is
24:56$36,000 these two gentlemen are not going to work for 36,000 bucks they're going to work for considerably higher than that um and uh I'm not willing to go to uh the upper limits of what was posted in the uh in the ad uh but I think we can handle uh the um anything that uh Dr Malone might might do uh I'm sure it's going to be all positive stuff for the city of Fall
25:32River I'm sure that Dr grin can learn on almost like on OJT on the job training uh he can learn about uh uh handling of large budgets but I really would like to have someone who has the experience behind him are you thank you Mr Vice chairman thank you Mr chair I'll just start off by saying that that going into the search process my goal was that whomever the finalists were that if we could all
26:07agree that regardless of who that person was that became our next superintendent that they would do a good job that I could live with that and so you know I've heard members talk about this was a difficult decision and and it should have been um because there were three great candidates to choose from u in fact I I would go out on a limb and say that the tenant individuals that um were
26:30interviewed were also in a lot of respects good candidates uh they all came with their strengths and and areas that needed to be improved upon um so my my comments tonight won't necessarily focus on anybody's uh shortcomings um but you know I I I I did feel um and I still feel um that Dr granson does bring a a level of uh professionalism to the position uh I certainly know after
26:57talking with individuals on Monday um he has some very strong mentors um who spoke very favorably of of not only his abilities to do the work um but his network of people that are surround him um and I think that's important uh whenever you lead in any capacity um it's always advantageous to have people around you that you can rely on for good mentorship and good support and sometimes leaders uh miss that
27:25opportunity to rely on those individuals and and make decisions that sometimes aren't the best and so it was clear to me uh talking to uh Robert petkin uh from harid um who was the former superintendent in Cambridge someone who knows what it takes to be a superintendent in a large Urban District um the types of abilities that he uh expressed to me uh with Dr granson was was remarkable um there were also
27:52individuals in the room who talked about uh his work at UH Commerce High School and also English High School his abilities to uh focus and develop programs for uh special populations which was very uh concerning to me um something I looked at throughout the interview process we have a large elll population uh Dr granson helped develop uh programs uh at English um he was very astute in his approach towards how he
28:23would uh Define and oversee special education and the rights that he felt that students were entitled to um I think his comment in his second interview was that uh he had observed a interaction between a faculty member uh during one of those meetings that was um not what he expected and and had asked that person to step out of the room and had a conversation with them um in addition I had an opportunity to
28:48spend time with Dr granson in the district he was very knowledgeable of Fall River in fact did his dissertation for his doctorate degree uh doctoral degree excuse me in in uh here in Far River U was very comfortable speaking to the central administrative staff in fact remembered and recalled some of them um through that process um I watched him interact with students in the classroom
29:10um and he was a gentleman who uh easily navigated his way around the classroom uh spoke uh to students uh was engaging uh you know Mr Martin's mentioned in in may have been just an oversight U by Mr marttin but in pipy uh Mr uh Dr granson oversaw 6,000 students 800 staff in a budget of upwards of $100 million so um you know I I think it's important when we talk about people's experience that
29:42you know we we certainly convey um particularly when these people will become uh potentially candidates in other districts that were that were accurate in that information and so I I wouldn't want Dr granson to be labeled as someone who doesn't have budget experience when it's clear um that while in pyy um he had that uh budget experience so I'm content I I really am with whatever the vote is here tonight um Dr
30:07Malone does bring a lot of passion to the job um I do have some concerns um about relationships and past relationships uh both at the state level uh and locally uh in districts that he's been in but as Miss pansley pointed out she and I had an opportunity uh with technology through Bluetooth were're able to discuss and question U references uh together and so U he had very favorable positive recommendations
30:36from people that um he had worked with throughout his tenure and and and in particular an individual who I thought if there was anybody was going to have anything um controversial to say um was very complimentary uh of of the working relationship um that they had uh and and this person knows the city very well uh was born and raised uh here in the city knows the players very well and was very
31:02complimentary so um regardless of how this vote turns out um I think it's incumbent upon this entire School Board to um unify and get behind whoever our next superintendent is because um clearly there's a lot of work that needs to be done um and it needs to be done quickly um with hiring of key positions U some of which we know about some of them of which we may not know about uh
31:27until after this evening uh so I I would say that it's it whoever uh comes on board um they got a tough task and it's going to require um a community effort not just school committee the city Business Leaders uh teachers um and all uh who's who are interested in education to come together and be supportive of whomever uh takes that role um and with that Mr chairman I yield thank you thank
31:56you so I'll give my opinion as well um first I want to say thank you to the search committee um you know I I when I was charged with organizing the search committee I reached out to Vice chairman Mark Costa and uh he helped me really organize my thoughts on that and uh we tried to make this process as certainly non-political as possible and made sure that teachers were involved administrators were involved parents
32:22nonprofit um I only had one representative really from my my staff on the entire committee and the rest was really a community community effort I'm sorry student yeah and students as well yeah so uh we tried to make this as inclusive as possible so I want to thank the committee for their hard work I think we had a ton of excellent candidates when I reviewed the um uh the resumés in my office and I think that
32:45the committee did a great job selecting a top three and as a lot of us have discussed over the last several days individually you know I think the district will be satisfied with any of the top three and I think all three of them will do an excellent job job or will would do an excellent job here in Fall River but we do have to choose one person um at the end of the day uh I
33:06want any of those candidates that are selected whichever whichever one is selected to know that they will have the support of the mayor's office 100% I want teachers to know that I want administrators to know that you have my support okay we certainly have at times um uh conflicting uh strategies on how to get to the same goals uh because in no way is my goal ever to strip teachers
33:30or schools or students of services or um of classrooms and all the other things that uh that go into educating our youth that's not the goal uh but the strategies and how we get there and how we use the 11416 million that we spend on education uh are going to be different at times and that's really what I did what I was looking at uh when I was reviewing the the three finalists um and that was
33:55really important to me but I wanted to say that I wanted I want everybody here to know that no matter who's chosen they will have the support of the mayor's office so I want I want you to all know that um and they will and I will work with them 100% however there is a candidate that Rose to the top for me and we all have our own personal attributes that draw us to particular
34:16individuals uh and there was one person that from my from my perspective really really um uh was was advantageous I think for the community and that was Dr granson as I stated earlier now I'm probably the wrong person to ask about experience and um and a few of the committee members did ask me about that and I really am the wrong person to ask because I believe that uh somebody that
34:39may not have the length of experience and in terms of time should not be really disqualified and that's really the only thing I've heard um as a negative quote unquote negative thing or not uh not a strength of Dr granson um which I I think shouldn't really be a disqualifier in any way and the reason I don't think that is because number one he certainly has the academic credentials so if you look at academic
35:02credentials he's there there's no question about it he has the support systems behind him with his mentors and the mentors that he spoke about and the references he also has um when you talk to him and I got an opportunity to speak to him oneon-one he's passionate but exact that was a great description I didn't know that description the Peaceful Warrior that's an excellent description of him he's somebody that's
35:22going to fight for for the teachers and for kids for students but in a in a way that that is professional in my opinion and is I think going to be ultimately probably more effective because this job as I know and I'm learning every single day is all about compromise um it's all about compromise and when you start at a position of of ego or or uh or non-c compromise you're disadvantaging yourself and I'm learning
35:49that on the city Side every single day another advantage of somebody that is sometimes untested or as not as experienced is the a learner they're continuously learning new things and I think you need somebody that adapts and that can come into the district from a professional sense take us into a new direction or and continue the direction we're going in we'd certainly I see Fran back there
36:12certainly uh uh you know improve the things that are already great but also you want to be creative too you want to try new things um and our superintendent that's leaving us was not afraid to try new things which was one of her biggest successes right she had successes and that was one of them that she tried new things I think Dr granson will bring that to the table he's creative he
36:31talked about a lot of the very specific things he has done in the districts that he came from um you know and and I I think the personal stories really got me in his interview and he was very measured very calm individual he listened uh to this committee we were able to get through the full interview which didn't happen with one of the other candidates uh so you know from my
36:52perspective I think that he really Rose to the top as the person that was really measured between all three of the finalists he had kind of the best elements of all three um and I I think that that was what my decision is based on and I feel very strongly about that decision um you know over the last several days I I you know I want to make
37:11sure that I go on the record to say this because I want the committee to be aware you know as mayor I have received calls from other Mayors I've received calls from the state level because you know certainly we're going to have to deal with uh the state on a lot of different issues um and there were some concerns about Dr Malone that you know I'm not going to go into detail I don't think
37:32that's necessarily fair to him but I think if you look at this at the landscape of our current superintendent search and you look at those finalists you know Dr Malone is not a finalist anywhere else Dr granson he's not I just confirmed it I just confirmed it with I just confirmed it with uh Glenn coocher just now just via text so he was a couple of days ago so he's no longer so
37:55just as of right now I confronted with with with Glen that he's not okay well Glen coer has confirmed it via Tex so I'm hearing some maybe that's a misinformation but the person that we hired to give us our information just told me he is not um Dr granson is a finalist somewhere else and he had an an offer on the table in another district and he decided to not take that offer
38:18because he felt that strongly about being here in Fall River an actual offer on the table I think that speaks volumes to his character and his commitment I don't think he's going to be a guy that's going to bounce around and he's not and this is I think very important he's not at the top of his career and that's okay and that's okay you have an individual Dr Malone who I think is
38:37extremely capable as well you know in terms of his abilities but he has already as he said I think three or four times during his interview he already achieved the top of his career as Secretary of Education that drive of reaching the top of your career is not there so I I don't see that as the ideal person that we need in fall river right now um and I I feel very strongly about that
39:03that's not to say that if he you know I don't have to say that I didn't have to say that because I already saw how the votes are kind of leaning but I wanted to say that because that's the truth and I wanted to be upfront about it but that's not to say that if he is selected by this committee and he is selected by individuals down the search committee
39:20that I can't work with him that's not what I'm saying at all I will work with him so I wanted to make sure that that was out but I couldn't just keep that in and not say it I think that's really important to to have been stated and I've had my personal conversations with individuals on the committee uh so just to wrap up I think Dr granson is the right choice for Fall River right now I
39:39think he has a very unique opportunity here to work and to to grow with our teachers with our administrators with our student body he has the opportunity to grow because in some cases he's not as experienced um you need to start somewhere right I mean that's that's really important so I think um with all his credentials with all his mentors with his excellent resume I think he's the right choice for Fall River other
40:09comments okay oh yep Dr K Dr cougan calling you a doctor now whoa Mr Coogan I I only take exception with a couple of things you said U Mr chairman I believe I believe our administrators and our teachers are very very receptive and I believe that the time they spent with all the candidates gave them a good idea of which way these candidates were going to be I think I think they understand matter of fact I
40:38know they understand a Fall River how people carry themselves how they talk might not always be just the way they are I believe that that if we support our teachers and get into a collegial um relationship with the school committee the superintendent the staff we can build a stronger a SCH school system so that's why with the emails and all the um notices and the phone calls we we've
41:03gotten from from staff throughout the district I I I believe to build a strong team I'm going to respect their wishes I think that's the way to go I think I don't know if that's always been done and I do also have to complement the committee I I know that superintendents in Fall Rivers in Fall River have not always been hired that way there there's been other ways of doing it but this committee grounded out
41:28night after night after night they vetted everybody completely they checked references they did a thorough job and I mean they they did a great job and it's the way people should be hired in a district and I compliment them I mean I don't know if I could have done all the work they did between driving around checking references on the ride they grounded out and I give them all the
41:47credit in the world but I am going to stick with our teachers and our administrators that spent time with all the candidates and um and listen to what they have to say right now Mr K you talking about just teachers in general or teachers that were on the search committee and administration search I'm I'm talking about teachers in general I believe that um the teachers that were on the search committee talked to their
42:07colleagues I believe they they let people know I believe the visits to the school they saw other teachers I believe the word spreads out um throughout the district as it would when any of us visit a building or things they they they have their own network and I respect it and I do believe that that's what they're thinking of okay no you know I I agree with you I'm not um I'm not disagreeing that with with
42:30teachers and that's what I'm saying I just felt that through the interviews that I had you know we're selecting the person that rides to the top in the interviews and that's you know that's what I felt I mean again I think that to discredit the particular individual from what I'm hearing from the committee I haven't had the opportunity to speak to teachers necessarily one-on-one I am in
42:48the middle of a budget and a lot of other stuff going on on the city Side absolutely and I'm in a precarious position precarious position because of my role as school committee chairman and mayor that's that's complex but um you know when I hear people say on the committee here that oh well he's on tested granson talking about you know our superint our current superintendent that's leaving was an assistant
43:09superintendent you know she she wasn't a superintendent from another Community uh she didn't or didn't have a doctor's degree but she was creative she listened to people she built up the Departments is what I'm being told you know that's what I've been told you know I haven't been I I be careful that Dr ker Dr k so you know I I don't necessarily think that somebody should be discredited
43:31because of um their lack of experience or they haven't held a a particular position before because then how do you ever progress how does a teacher you know become uh you know an administrator an administrator become a superintendent you got to you got to start somewhere so you know I just that's the only thing I'm speaking to in terms of of uh what I hear from some of the committee members
43:52so yes doc doc um wait a minute Mr Coogan you want to respond to that Dr um I think you get tested by as you just explained U the steps that our assistant superintendent took I believe if uh Dr granson had stayed in pyy he might be the superintendent there right now I believe that when you develop a network of people or you stay in a district and you grind it out it helps you down the
44:15road I think uh the lifespan on a superintendent in this District should probably be 3 or four years as in almost all urban districts across the state so when they grind it out and they work longer than that God bless him but I believe that that's how you move up you gave an example I think that if if those positions had led to something else where there was some continuity and a little bit more long
44:38term I'd be with you right now but that's how you do it that's how the former superintendent did it okay Doctor um I just want to say one thing is that I have great deal of respect for the opinion of Administrators and teachers there's no question about that at all for me um I also I'm aware that we have a very interesting Dynamic kind of going on here where there's a lot of anxiety when
45:09we lost president superintendent um people were feeling uncertain about their future we they're worried about pink slips they're worried about everything we have people leaving the district there's a lot of anxiety out there we have negotiations that are going to be coming up soon for two of our major unions teachers and administrators there's a lot of anxiety out there I happened to be as Mr Costa
45:29was the person who took Dr granson around I was the person who accompanied Dr Malone around we spent 5 hours together we talked a lot in the car every school that we went to and every place that we visited when he walked into that school he knew that school when we walked into the vas he knew people by name he walked right up to the principal who was leaving and tried to talk him into coming
45:54back he he immediately connected with every teacher that he went to and he knew his stuff he knew what was going on in that classroom and what I saw was an immediate Comfort level that the teachers felt and I think that we have teachers who are trying to feel that Comfort level again because of the anxiety that they feel so I certainly can understand why teachers support him um I could understand also that if I was
46:20looking as a union member I used to belong to the F AA and in his interview he said that he was going to throw lawyers out I already already told attorney Assad that maybe we won't need him so much anymore and uh and I would say that if I was in the fra and and a new superintendent candidate said he was going to throw the lawyers out and he was going to you know negotiate directly
46:40with me I think I'd probably like that idea so there's a lot of reasons I think that I understand why people feel close and Affinity to him and would like him there's a comfort level there and there's a familiarity level there I guess I put that aside because I also look at the reaction of parents to um Dr granson and there were several parents or at least two that were on the search
47:05committee and um yes he made a statement during the final uh interview having to do with taking an administrator out that they felt were creating hostile environment at an IEP meeting um which is something that some parents who have encountered when they've gone to IEP meetings feeling kind of overwhelmed that that that moved them that touched them but but the thing that touched me he didn't say in the
47:37final interview but he said it in the preliminary and I'll remember it well and he's not the kind of person that likes to talk about himself he's kind of a humble man I think that's how I wrote I used to write that I wrote that about him and and he said something when he was asked about one of the parents asked him about his feelings about special ed and he said said well the other day I
47:58was in the grocery store I like to go to the grocery storees he said of the places where I work and I ran into a student that I had um a few years uh earlier who was a special ed student who had had a lot of difficulty who had graduated and you and he said the student came up to me and he said to me thank you very much Dr grensen for
48:19helping me graduate you're the only person I ever had that didn't treat me as if I was different and that stuck with me now maybe it's because of my background maybe that I'm very sensitive to those kinds of things but those are the kinds of things that parents told me a lot and and and that moved me so I think that that just reinforce the kinds of things that I was looking for
48:45and and other people had other things that they rightfully were looking for and and I certainly accept certainly what um Mrs pantley said about the budget I I mean when I have a question about the budget I ask her so uh it's not my extra area of expertise at all um but I am supporting Dr granson because it's what I feel is right for me I Mr andred I'd like to reiterate uh what
49:12what has been mentioned about the the search committee I think it's the way to go I know that there was a lot of disagreement uh among the members of the committee but that's the way committees work and on the plus side uh we did get diverse uh uh opinions from from a number of people uh so uh so everybody's uh uh input was was uh duly noted and uh reflected in the uh the people who who
49:36made the first made the uh the finalist cut and uh or first made the the the top 10 and then and then the uh the the final uh three um secondly I I think I know which which way the uh this this vote is going to go but let's say it goes the other way I think it's very important for all of us to rally together uh we're all in this together
49:59and to make this work um and um I I I really think that some of the fears that that people have about uh about Dr granson are are not found well founded uh I think I think he would also be good for this District uh and uh and I would certainly uh work with him as as well as I I would work with uh um Dr Malone um the and the one final thing is let's
50:27say I don't expect this to happen I certainly don't don't hope that that that it would happen let's say for whatever reason uh it doesn't work which whichever person that uh that that we choose as a superintendent we can do what we can do we can we can particularly if if we have a united front we can put some pressure on on the superintendent uh to change uh something that that he he's doing
50:53however you have a lot more power than you real realiz particularly if you you are together uh singly no but but but together you can accomplish a lot and all you have to do is is uh is read about uh some some of the things that have happened uh in districts where some of our our finalists have actually worked uh so um uh don't be mute if there is a problem thank you motion to
51:25vote Okay so continue discussion you didn't recognize my my hand beinging up though okay I didn't see your hand Mr Martins go ahead also I just want to correct I guess Jim is telling us that Mr Malone and I apologize to Mr Malone is a finalist in New Hampshire okay that was different than what was sent to me okay thank you uh oh that's not on camera don't worry they can't hear
51:51you so I apologize to Mr Malone I know uh Mr Marts certainly the uh two candidates in under discussion um could perhaps do a good job but I look at uh what the person has accomplished as a means of determining what the individual will accomplish in there and uh Dr granson did his doctoral dissertation uh um based on Fall River but there's a big difference between getting data and making a uh um
52:38you know a a book actually comes out to be uh a dissertation with regards to uh the findings in there big difference between that and actually doing the work uh it takes a lot more pressure a lot more understanding uh in doing the work work rather than simply writing about a particular school system uh when I look at this um uh I look at uh and I I mentioned about the uh the budget and um
53:12Mr ker corrected me yes it's in the it's in here but there you it certainly isn't as you know the number of people that were assisting in the fin Finance area is quite large and you're not going to get that kind of uh assistance uh in uh in Fall River um when I look at and compared the qualifications between uh Dr granson and Dr Malone um Dr Malone's qu uh qualifications are are RA are impeccable
53:53in regards to what he has done not not only as a superintendent but as on the uh as the uh uh secretary to education of Education in Massachusetts uh in addition to that with the uh what he has done with regards to school building assistance uh in there when you're talking of uh uh millions of dollars uh you know and putting a high school together for uh 54 million and looking at uh other issues it just
54:31goes on and on uh in regards to uh what his accomplishments are and uh I just want to close with uh and I you right after this with the fact that uh he admitted that he had some uh uh concerns with the uh a couple of school committees uh but we don't know the de the details about that uh and uh it's not fair to uh expand or to say hey uh
55:02well he had some problems which we don't know the details of so therefore he's going to have problems here we don't know that we don't know that Dr granson might not have problems here either uh in the so you know it's it's what do you do about a problem and I've already stated that uh the uh all of them Dr granson and Dr Malone know that they work for the schre committee and if the school committee
55:33tolerates uh um something that's not proper then it's you shame on shame on us all and it's to say hey remember who you work for and let's get your act act together how you thank you okay so we're going to have a motion to vote that was made by Mr kougan prior in those discussion um so we're going to have a a roll call First of the individual's name
56:04question do you want me to make a motion no no that's that's the motion for the for the actual candidate the one that you have in your hand the um second on the motion second well I didn't I didn't make the motion I'm just asking if somebody makes a motion roll call okay we're going to call for a roll call ballot and then there will be a motion to vote so the
56:24roll call ballot is the person that you're choosing for superintendent of schools roll call please Mr andreid Malone Mr kougan Malone Mr CA granson Dr CA granson Mr Martins Malone Mrs pansley Dr Malone May car Dr granson okay four to seeing that is four to three and that four is the required amount necessary to declare a new superintendent is there anybody that like to change their vote at this time I
56:57would ask that we do um amend our votes those that did not fall on the majority to make this decision unanimous and in good faith we begin the process of working with our new superintendent who has rightfully achieved the majority uh so I will I will ask that somebody makes that motion to reconsider in in the majority oh in the majority motion reconsider I don't know second point of order Mr chair you don't
57:24I guess you don't need I guess you don't need in the school committee city city council side you do so there's no motion so there's no motion just need a motion now oh that's right okay so Mr KGAN would you like to proceed with your motion a motion that Matt Malone be appointed superintendent of the of the far Public Schools sub subject to successful negotiation of a contract of employment mutually agreed upon to the
57:45candidate and the school committee and signed by both parties or their designes second okay roll call sorry about the confusion Mr Andre yes Mr Coogan yes Mr Costa yes Dr Costa yes Mr Martins yes Mrs penley yes may yes okay we have a new superintendent okay the next item on the agenda is executive uh executive session motion for executive session second and uh what is the item for executive
58:20session Mr s be pursuant to Master on Law chapter 38 section 21 A2 to conduct a strategy session in preparation for negotiations with non-union Personnel specifically the superintendent of schools to be selected by the school committee in Open session at the June 22nd 2016 special meeting of the forward school committee namely uh Matt Malone we will reconvene that may or may not be a statement at that
58:44time okay uh motion to enter executive session has been made and seconded uh roll call please Mr Andre yes Mr Coogan yes Mr Costa yes Dr Costa yes Mr marts yes Mrs kley yes may yes okay we'll be an executive
59:15session everybody here okay the meeting will come back to order roll call please Mr Andre here Mr cougan yep Mr Costa here Dr CER here Mr Martin here Mrs py here may here and do we have anything to report from executive session there's no report seeing no report is there motion to adjourn so moved second okay uh roll call please Mr Andre yes Mr cougan yep Mr Costa yes Dr
59:43CA yes Mr Martin yes Mrs pantley yes mayor yes good night everyone