BARRE — The Barre Unified Union School District will soon have a new superintendent and David Wells will soon have a new title.
Wells, a veteran principal, edged his current boss – White River Valley Superintendent Bruce Labs – to land the Barre job after the school board conducted virtual interviews of both finalists Tuesday night.
Chairman Paul Malone confirmed the board’s unanimous selection of Wells on Wednesday morning.
“He (Wells) seemed like the type of person who could probably lead us for a time in a very good light,” Malone said, describing Wells as an “experienced” and “affable” man whose “crisp” answers to questions posed by board members during the second of two online interviews earned him the job now held by Superintendent John Pandolfo.
It wasn’t a slam dunk decision, Malone said. Though one one of three finalists – Franklin West Interim Superintendent Donald Van Nostrand – abruptly withdrew from consideration over the weekend, he said Wells and Labs were solid options.
“They were both very good candidates without a doubt,” Malone said, adding: “The edge, from the board’s point of view, went to Wells, a Montpelier resident with central Vermont ties that date back more than three decades.
Wells, who received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Vermont and his master’s degree in education from Castleton University, taught at Williamstown Elementary School for 11 years before taking his first job as a principal. He served as principal of Doty Memorial School in Worcester from 2000 to 2007 and later held similar positions at Westford Elementary School and Underhill I.D. Elementary School before taking his current job in White River Valley Elementary School in 2018. He has also taught courses at Castleton and the Community College of Vermont.
During a virtual forum Monday night, Wells described himself as a strong communicator, “a systems thinker” and a collaborative “school leader,” who was ready to take on the challenge of serving as a superintendent and enthusiastic about working in the two-town, three-school district anchored by Spaulding High School.
Though Wells doesn’t have experience as a superintendent, Malone said neither did Pandolfo when he was promoted from director of curriculum and instruction of what was then the Barre Supervisory Union, in 2015.
Malone said he was comfortable with the board’s decision to extend the job offer Wells has since accepted.
“I really ... think he (Wells) will be a good performer,” he said.
The decision reached late Tuesday night capped a consultant-led administrative search that was launched with some urgency earlier this year when Pandolfo announced he would be stepping down and leaving Vermont at the end of the school year. He has since accepted a superintendent’s job in Colorado.
Other than the tight time frame the national search relatively routine until it wasn’t as concern over COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus started to spread, schools were dismissed, social distancing became a thing and in-person interviews went from ill-advised to impossible.
A broad-based search committee interviewed three semi-finalists by video conference and forwarded all three to the board for its consideration. One – Van Nostrand – withdrew in advance of Monday’s meet the candidates forum that was live-streamed on YouTube. Wells and Labs both fielded questions submitted electronically by an audience that ranged from that hovered between 30 and 50.
Malone said the board completed its own virtual back-to-back interviews at about 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday and, after some discussion, made its decision about 90 minutes later.
Wells is scheduled to start work in Barre on July 1.
david.delcore @timesargus.com
