Lee’s McCandless named Pittsfield superintendent

PITTSFIELD – Lee Superintendent Jason P. “Jake” McCandless has officially been chosen as the next leader of the city’s schools.

“I am very excited and extremely honored to be offered this position,” Dr. McCandless, who is a Pittsfield resident, told The Beacon. “This opportunity to serve another wonderful Berkshire community is truly an honor.”

By a 6-1 vote (with Terry M. Kinnas opposed), the Pittsfield School Committee offered its superintendency to the leader of Lee Public Schools on Wednesday night (Feb. 27).

“Today is going to be a day when people said the school committee did at least one thing right,” School Committee Chairman Alfred E. “Alf” Barbalunga said.

Even though Mr. Kinnas voted against Dr. McCandless’ hiring, he still supported the school committee’s decision.

“I’ll be more than happy to support him,” Mr. Kinnas said.

Prior to the vote, the school committee members were full of praise for the Lee superintendent.

“Every single person [in Lee] had something good to say about him,” said School Committee Vice Chair Daniel C. Elias, adding he polled approximately 40 people in doing his research on Dr. McCandless.

Mayor Daniel L. Bianchi, who is a member of the school committee, spoke of the excellent work Dr. McCandless has done in Lee, adding, “I would expect that would be replicated here.”

William Garr of the Beverly-based Future Management Systems, the company hired by Pittsfield to assist with the superintendent search, also weighed in on the committee’s decision.

“I think you’ve made a choice that included a lot of opinions, a lot of ideas,” Mr. Garr told the school committee.

Chairman Barbalunga anticipated a formal announcement of the hiring of Dr. McCandless will come at the committee’s March 13 meeting, pending contract negotiations.

The other two finalists in Pittsfield’s superintendent search were Ann M. Bradshaw, Mashpee Public Schools superintendent, and William “Bill” Hart, Pentucket Regional School District assistant superintendent. The school committee seemed pleased, for the most part, with all three candidates.

“I could find nothing negative about all three of the candidates,” Mr. Kinnas said.

The only detracting statements made about the other two candidates were they didn’t seem to know enough about Pittsfield Public Schools and the issues that affect the district specifically.

“McCandless, on the other hand, came very well prepared,” said Vice Chair Elias.

Implications in Lee

While this hire is good news for Pittsfield, the Lee Public Schools and the district’s school committee will now be tasked with finding a new superintendent.

“Lee will obviously miss him greatly,” said Vice Chair Elias, echoing comments from other Pittsfield School Committee members on public commentary they received from Lee community members begging them not to hire him.

For his part, Dr. McCandless will keep up the hard work in his current position until the very end.

“I will do everything possible to help Lee,” he told The Beacon. “The school committee has a clear vision of how they want to proceed, and I will be at their service every step of the way.”

Dr. McCandless was named Lee superintendent in 2005, and prior to that, he was the principal of Lee Middle and High School for three years. His other work history includes time as an English teacher and a football coach.

He has been a Pittsfield resident, along with his family, for nearly 11 years, and his three children attend city schools.

If hired, Dr. McCandless will replace Howard J. Eberwein III, who later took a job at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) as dean of graduate and continuing education. The Pittsfield School Committee went through the search process last year, only to vote to not hire finalist Reza Namin, superintendent of the Spencer-East Brookfield Regional School District.

Instead, Gordon L. Noseworthy was later named interim superintendent.

Posted by Catherine M. Krummey on February 27, 2013. Filed under Education News,Featured,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry