Wayland School Committee interviews two finalists for acting superintendent

WAYLAND -- April 12, 2023, Wayland School Committee interviews Connelly and Fleischman for acting superintendent role. Weston Superintendent Mitch Connelly and former Newton Superintendent David Fleischman pitched themselves April 12 as the district scrambles to fill openings before July 1, including the Happy Hollow principal (four finalists) and interim assistant superintendent (three finalists). In public comment, committee member Jessica Palazade said she had been told by the district's finance director that "there are no extra funds" for a second superintendent's salary without cuts, with town meeting less than a month away. Members unanimously approved a $38,866 METCO special education grant, an annual Camp Caribou football trip for roughly 80 students presented by coach Scott Parsegian, and Acting Superintendent Perry Graham's plan to add a June 16 makeup day at Loker after a February boiler flood. A new policy codifying test-return practices went to 30-day public comment over one abstention; Fleischman called Wayland's 48 percent special education cost increase a top issue, while Connelly said "isolation is the enemy of improvement."