Ten or 11 applications have been received for the superintendent’s position.
By Donna M. Perry
Staff Writer

JAY – Jay School Committee members elected a new chairman and vice chairman Thursday to lead them through the next school year.

The board also decided to hold meetings to find out what school staff and community members would or wouldn’t like to see in a new superintendent.

Ten or 11 applications have been received for the superintendent’s position. Superintendent Stephen Cottrell announced last month he would resign as of Aug. 3. He has been school leader since August 2000.

Jim Durrell was elected as the chairman of the board and Amy Pineau as vice chairman.

Durrell replaces Clint Brooks as chairman and Pineau replaces former School Committee member Robin Roberts.

Durrell said one of his goals is to “build a strong relationship between the School Committee, schools, administrators and community.”

An accomplishment he would like to see as chairman, Durrell said, is to settle the teachers’ contract. Teachers and the board have been locked in a contract dispute, which has overflowed and effected schoolchildren. Teachers have been working without a contract since fall 2002. Teachers’ have been working only contract hours since School Committee negotiators rejected a compromise recommended by an independent fact-finders committee.

High School students held two protests last month in hopes of getting the contract settled. Students said their grades were suffering because teachers’ were not giving enough extra time due to working contract hours. Students were also disappointed, they said, that the majority of teachers did not attend graduation for the same reason.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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