Gill-Montague School Committee Interviews Superintendent Candidate Remotely Amid Pandemic

GILL — March 24, 2020 — Gill-Montague School Committee interviewed a superintendent candidate remotely as the COVID-19 pandemic forced public meetings online. The committee questioned Karen, director of student services at Frontier Regional School District, across topics including curriculum design, special education compliance, collective bargaining, declining enrollment, and community engagement in a session lasting roughly 90 minutes on March 24. The candidate highlighted that Frontier's elementary schools currently place no students out of district and described a multi-tiered system of social-emotional supports she helped build there. She flagged a notable drop in Gill-Montague enrollment between middle and high school grades, recommending project-based learning and vocational opportunities as retention tools. No votes were taken; the interview was one stage in a multi-step search process the committee described as also including an earlier session with a diverse panel and meetings with district administrators.