VERGENNES — Two finalists for the post of Addison Northwest Supervisory Union superintendent will visit the district schools on Feb. 24, meet with the public during that afternoon, and sit with the ANwSU board that evening for final interviews.
They are Orleans Southwest Supervisory Union Superintendent JoAn Canning and former South Burlington Assistant Superintendent and Vermont School Board Association Director Winton Goodrich.
Current ANwSU Assistant Superintendent and Addison Central School Principal Wayne Howe withdrew his candidacy late last week after accepting an offer to become the Northfield Elementary School principal (see story here).
The ANwSU board is inviting members of the public to VUHS at 3:30 p.m. on the 24th to meet and question Canning and Goodrich. Both of their résumés are also available for review at anwsu.org by clicking on the “Superintendent Screening Committee” link.
According to an email from ANwSU board chairwoman Laurie Gutowski, “The school board will use your feedback from the forums to assist with their final decision.”
The ANwSU board will meet at 6 p.m. on that Monday and interview each candidate separately in executive sessions.
Often, if a board sees a good fit it will offer the preferred candidate the job that same evening.
There might be competition for the candidates’ services, however. ANwSU Superintendent Tom O’Brien, whose soon-to-conclude 13-year tenure is one of the longest in Vermont, confirmed this week there are at least 16 anticipated superintendency openings in the state for the next school year.
And even those that apply can lose interest before the job is offered. In Middlebury, for example, it took Addison Central Supervisory Union two years and several searches to find its current superintendent.
Canning, who has both an undergraduate degree and a doctorate from the University of Vermont, has served in Hardwick as the Orleans Southwest school head since 2010. That supervisory union includes nine schools and about 1,100 students, according to her résumé. Before then, she was an assistant superintendent in South Burlington, her hometown, for six years.
Canning also has extensive experience in special education, including a three-year stint in ANwSU between 1991 and 1994.
Goodrich’s two years as a South Burlington assistant superintendent ended in June 2013 due to budget cuts. He remains an adjunct professor at UVM, where he obtained his master’s degree and is working on his doctorate, and the owner of his own consulting firm. He left the school board association in 2011 after 20 years to work for the South Burlington school district.
Goodrich, a West Berlin resident, is a former teacher and coach who, according to his résumé, is a former Vermont Teacher of the Year and Vermont Assistant Principal of the Year.