Weston School Committee votes to create private superintendent screening panel

WESTON — February 27, 2023 — Weston School Committee opens private search for interim superintendent, naming two members to screening panel. The board voted 5-0 on February 27 to create a two-member screening subcommittee — Chair Kenneth Newberg and Vice-Chair Tiao Xie — to review applications confidentially and forward at least two finalists to the full committee, with public interviews tentatively scheduled for April and a contract ratification targeted for late April. The committee also received a Bullying Prevention and Intervention Task Force update reporting that LGBTQ-plus students are self-reporting bullying at substantially higher rates than other subgroups, and that survey data consistently shows more students report being bullied than formally report it to the school. A 5-0 vote established the Arda Kattletepe Memorial Scholarship, seeded with more than $16,000 from the family of the late Weston graduate, to award $1,000 annually toward a college-bound student's costs. The board then moved to executive session to discuss collective bargaining strategy with the Weston Educators Association, whose contract expired in August 2022, with mediation not set to begin until March 22.