It looked like the ORR assistant superintendent would be replaced with two specialists upon retirement at the end of the year. Now the position will remain vacant a year, while a whole group of administrators tackle its associated tasks.

Elise Frangos, who has served as the curriculum and instruction head for the district since 2010, announced in January that she would be retiring at the end of this school year. The announcement sparked a district-wide process to figure out how best to replace her. 

The district briefly considered hiring two curriculum and instruction specialists to take her place, and a committee was formed to determine how those two positions should be structured across the district.

However, different district schools had different needs from curriculum specialists, and the expense of hiring two specialists led the committee to suggest that the position be split among various teachers and administrators as a stipend position for a year.

At the end of that time, the District will try to make a more permanent hiring decision.

The Chair of the Sippican School Committee, Christine Marcolini, was part of the decision committee, and was pleased with the decision. 

“We are actually excited to look at these pieces [Frangos’ duties] being done in a different way,” she said at a March 27 School Committee meeting.

The funds currently allocated in the school budget for one or more curriculum and instruction positions will be used to pay the stipends for administrators that take on additional responsibilities, and to pay for the search process.

School Committee members emphasized that while the position is important to fill, taking more time and seeing how others handle Frangos’ position will allow the district to approach the search from a much more educated standpoint.

Superintendent Doug White said that the school district will lay out interim plans for school administrators in the next few months.