Update: Mary Jane Rickson has withdrawn from consideration.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Four external candidates for Pittsfield's interim superintendent will be interviewed this week.

They are Roland Joyal Jr., Latifah Phillips, Robert Putnam, and Mary Jane Rickson. Outgoing Superintendent Joseph Curtis will step down on July 1 after 30 years with the district.

On Tuesday, School Committee Chair William Cameron reported via email that 11 applications were submitted to the Massachusetts Association of School Committees for the one-year interim superintendent position.

"The School Committee's Personnel & Negotiations Subcommittee has reviewed all the materials submitted to MASC by applicants," he wrote. "There were no internal applicants."

The subcommittee, including Vice Chair Daniel  Elias, Sara Hathaway, and Mayor Peter Marchetti, selected the four finalists who have agreed to move forward with interviews on Wednesday and Thursday. Cameron recused himself.

Interviews will be held at Reid Middle School on Wednesday, May 7, and Thursday, May 8. Rickson will be interviewed at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, and Putnam at 7:25 p.m. that same night. Phillips will be interviewed at 6 p.m. on Thursday, and Joyal at 7:25 p.m. that same night.

Joyal is a retired educator currently completing an interim superintendency in Monson. Before his retirement in 2023, he served as the executive director/superintendent of the Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative.

Phillips is currently the chief equity and engagement officer for the Lowell Public Schools with prior experience as the director of Native education for the state of Washington's Department of Education, and the assistant secretary of Indian education in the New Mexico Public Education Department.

Putnam is a retired educator who formerly served as the superintendent of the Central Berkshire Regional and the Adams-Cheshire Regional School Districts. He has also served interim stints as superintendent in the Mount Greylock Regional School District and the Farmington River Regional School District.

Rickson is currently the superintendent of the Granby Public Schools.

The School Committee plans to appoint the prospective interim superintendent on May 14 at 6 p.m. during its regular meeting at City Hall.

"The appointment will become final when a contract has been agreed to by the parties, the prospective appointee has submitted to CORI and SORI checks and to the SAFIS fingerprinting now required by MGL c. 71 § 38R, and all reference checks have been completed," Cameron wrote.

"A transition period is expected between the interim superintendent's start and current Superintendent of Schools Joseph Curtis' departure, both taking place effective July 1."

Also on Wednesday, the committee will re-vote on a much-anticipated settlement agreement with the United Educators of Pittsfield. The three-year contract was approved last week, but after Cameron consulted with the union's leadership and its Massachusetts Teachers Association field representative, it was determined that a misunderstanding in the vote warrants another approval.

"The School Committee amended the document presented for ratification on Wednesday, April 30, through a misunderstanding of what were eleventh-hour changes the union was seeking in the agreement. Those changes affect certain categories of employees which the UEP has represented for some years. The Committee believed that in correcting what it thought was an error in the document it was thereby accommodating the UEP's request. That turns out not to have been the case. Hence the need for a re-vote," Cameron explained via email on Friday.

"I am grateful to Jeanne Lemmond, the UEP's president, and to the UEP's membership for understanding how a mistaken interpretation of the pertinent provision in the document could have occurred. I am grateful as well, for their support of our intention to vote promptly on an unamended version of the agreements the parties reached."

He reported receiving administrative assurance that the delay in getting a final agreement ratified will have no adverse effect on the timing of unit members receiving the retroactive pay they are owed for the 2024-2025 contract year.

UEP Settlement Agreement by Brittany Polito

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