Will the search for a School Superintendent in Lowell end before it begins?

InsideLowell has learned that Mayor Danny Rourke and committee member Fred Bahou have co-filed a motion for next Wednesday’s School Committee meeting asking to “remove the interim tag from Liam Skinner’s job title and enter into contract negotiations to make him permanent Superintendent.”

Skinner was named to the interim position last June, replacing Dr. Joel Boyd, who left for a job in Philadelphia. At the time, the intent was for Skinner to lead Lowell Public Schools for a year while a search for a permanent Superintendent was launched. Skinner would be eligible to apply and has made no secret of his desire to stay on in that position.

Despite the stated intent to open a search process, there has always been some level of support to appoint Skinner to the position permanently. That movement gained steam with the School Committee swearing in new members Bahou, Dave Conway and Rourke as Mayor at the start of the new year.

“Liam Skinner has been part of the Lowell public school district his whole career,” Bahou tells InsideLowell. “He started out as a teacher,  eventually became principal, then curriculum Director, and now interim superintendent. He understands the needs of the district, whether it is graduation rates, low MCAS scores, building maintenance and upkeep, and he knows the principals in each school. With his knowledge and their assistance, he will be able to move our curriculum forward to benefit all the students in Lowell Public schools. There are many other benefits to having Skinner becoming our superintendent. It should be done sooner rather than later, as not to delay many of the issues that surround the Lowell Public Schools and to have a person who lives, breathes and understands Lowell better than any outside candidate would.”

With Bahou and Rourke co-filing the motion, Skinner is assured two of the necessary four votes to pass. Beyond that, it gets tricky.

Committee member Eileen DelRossi confirms she is a “no” vote on the motion, having been vocal about wanting to follow through with a search process.

Connie Martin also strongly supports a search, saying “I suppose I will listen to the rationale from the maker of the motion, but I have already very publicly said during the interim selection process that the only reason why I was able to support a process that didn’t have any public participation (ie no blue ribbon review of applicants) was because I had every intention of conducting a full search for the permanent position when the time came.” 

The other three committee members, Jackie Doherty, Domink Lay and Conway have yet to respond to our requests for comment.