Page 4 THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRiDAy, OCTObER 6, 2023 School Committee questions vote on Supt. search committee advisory group Minority members seek Tahiliani’s rehiring despite no contract renewal By Neil Zolot A pproval of a consulting fi rm to help in a search for a new school superintenNeed a hall for your special event? The Schiavo Club, located at 71 Tileston Street, Everett is available for your Birthdays, Anniversaries, Sweet 16 parties and more? Call Dennis at (857) 249-7882 for details. dent was tabled after a series of parliamentary questions, partly based on the lack of a dollar fi gure, that necessitated a visit from City Clerk Sergio Cornelio at the School Committee meeting Monday, October 2. “It tends to be one of our roles,” he said. The question was to “ratify the selection of the Alma Advisory Group, based in Chicago, chosen as the consultant as part of the Requests for Proposals process to assist both the Superintendent Screening Committee, as well as the School Committee in the process of searching and screening candidates for Superintendent.” It did not formally include the $85,600 Ward 4 member and Committee Chairman Michael Mangan said it would cost. After approval by a 5-3 margin with Marcony Almeida-Barros (Ward 5), Jeanne Cristiano (Ward 3) and Member at-Large Samantha Lambert dissenting, Lambert asked if the question required a twothirds majority to pass and asked for a legal opinion on the matter. Amid some rancor between Mangan and Lambert, Cristiano added that appropriations require a two-thirds majority to pass. “Where is the transparency in this?” she asked. This prompted Mangan to request an opinion from the city clerk. Cornelio told the members an appropriation of new funds raised from tax dollars requires two-thirds approval by present members, but a transfer of funds within a budget requires only a simple majority. “City Counsel KP Law indicated we thought we needed two-thirds more than we did,” he reported. Calling $85,600 “a significant sum,” he said the fi gure should be included in any question “because the public has a right to know the dollar amount.” He also pointed out the matter required reconsideration because a vote had already been taken. “That would be the cleanest way,” he advised. Almeida-Barros pointed out that a call for reconsideration had failed just a few minutes before, with himself, Cristiano and Lambert in the minority, as they were in the initial vote to appoint Alma, but Mangan asked the members to “reconsider in order to do it properly,” which passed 8-0. This turn of events was set in motion by an agenda item sponsored by Lambert asking for an update on the Superintendent Screening Committee, the process used to pick its members and the fi - nal hiring process. She feels the Screening Committee and consultant were selected without suffi cient involvement by the Committee as a whole, but by Mangan, more or less on his own. “We didn’t have the language of an RFP and never chose a designee to select a consultant,” she said. “A call was put out, but there was a feeling you had to be connected to an individual to be selected. This community is too diverse and broad to not be inclusive.” She also accused Mangan of continuing “to take all this on yourself and acting as if you are the body.” He answered it was diffi cult to choose one applicant over others when they all might be qualified, but he achieved what he wanted in having more women than men on the Screening Committee and it includes current and former educators. He added that he feels that he has a good working understanding of the school system, but admitted, “In hindsight I wish I could have handled it diff erently.” QUESTIONS | SEE PAGE 6
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