NORTHAMPTON — The search committee to hire a new superintendent for Northampton Public Schools has narrowed its selection down to four candidates.
The announcement was made at a special School Committee meeting held Monday to discuss the school’s budget.
The four candidates are Portia Bonner, an educational consultant and interim superintendent for the Bozrah Public School District in Bozrah, Connecticut; Jonathan Bruno, director of learning and teaching in the Berkshire Hills Regional School District in Stockbridge; Marisa Mendosa, deputy superintendent of the Pittsfield Public Schools; and Tara Tiller, the chief operations and financial officer of the Cheatham County School District in Tennessee.
“The search committee is honored to present such a strong, diverse candidate pool for the full Northampton School Committee,” said Josh Dickson, director of student services who leads the search committee. “It is the recommendation of the search committee that the full [school] committee conduct site visits and/or community forums in each candidate’s current or former district to gain a robust understanding of how diverse stakeholders viewed each potential candidate.”
The search committee made its selections with the assistance of Liz Lafond from the Massachusetts Association of School Committees.
Bonner is the most experienced candidate, having worked in education since 1991. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and sociology from Skidmore College, a master’s in biology from Purdue University and a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from the University of Connecticut.
Mendosa is the only candidate with prior experience in the Valley, having served as principal of Amherst Regional Middle School between 2014-2016 and Mohawk Trail Regional High School in Shelburne Falls from 2016-2021. She has a bachelor of science in history from Springfield College, a master’s of education from UMass Amherst and a doctorate of education from American University in Washington, D.C.
Bruno held several positions in the Boston Public School systems before relocating to western New England, holding position in Sheffield and Stockbridge as well as Falls River, Connecticut, and has a master’s and doctorate of education from Northeastern University.
Tiller has spent most of her career in Tennessee, having worked in the Cheatham County district since 2013 and was formerly a principal in the Dickson County school district. According to her LinkedIn page, she holds a master’s of education from Tennessee State University and a doctorate of education from Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville.
According to Dickson, there were 11 candidates total who applied, eight of whom were interviewed before settling on the final four candidates.
Lafond recommended that the candidates be invited to visit the school district, meeting with the School Committee and members of the community, as well as answering questions from the public. This process was most recently used to hire William Wehrli as Northampton High School’s permanent principal in December.
“Often there’s an hour or so meet and greet and close to where the interviews will be held so that members of the public can just come in and say hello and ask questions,” Lafond said. “There might be a smaller subset [of the school committee] that takes the candidate out to lunch each day or meets in school for lunch with the candidate.”
Interviews for the candidates are scheduled to take place throughout the week of March 20. Members of the School Committee, such as Meg Robbins of Ward 1, suggested the committee take time to deliberate after the interviews to determine which candidate to hire.
“I’d love to have some space after the last interview to not only be able to give some thought to decision making, but also to hear from constituents, which I think is a common practice in other districts,” Robbins said. “It’s a big decision and it’s good to get input. So delaying that actual decision past the last interview would be helpful.”
The new superintendent, once hired, will take over for Jannell Pearson-Campbell, who has been serving as interim superintendent since the departure of John Provost, who left to serve as superintendent of the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District last summer.
Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.
