SAU 53, which includes the towns of Pembroke, Deerfield, Allenstown, Epsom and Chichester, has narrowed down its search for its co-superintendent to two candidates: the current assistant superintendent Jessica Bickford and Hudson school district superintendent Daniel Moulis.

One of the two finalists will be selected to replace outgoing superintendent Patty Sherman om Monday evening to serve alongside Jack Finley, the other SAU 53 superintendent. Under the current structure, Sherman’s replacement would represent the towns of Pembroke and Deerfield, with Finley representing Allenstown, Chichester, and Epsom.

Meet the candidates

Bickford has been the assistant superintendent of student services and Title IX coordinator for the school district since July 2023. She previously served as the director of student services. Before that, Bickford worked in the Pittsfield School District as the director of student services and a special education teacher. She also has administrative experience as the director of a summer camp.

Moulis joined the Hudson School District as superintendent in 2022. He previously worked as superintendent of the Barrington School District, a role he held for five years. Before that, he worked as the director of operations and instructional leadership in Barrington and also held the position of assistant principal and then principal of Windham Middle School. Before stepping into administrative roles, Moulis worked as a middle school teacher.

Bickford and Moulis participated in a Meet the Candidates night at Pembroke Academy on Thursday. Based in separate rooms, they each held informal discussions with members of the community.

Moulis fielded questions about the budget and spoke about his desire to make the costs and their driving factors easier for voters to understand. 

“My fiduciary responsibility is to work with the board and the budget committee to put forward, to the best of all our abilities, a budget that is going to be palatable to the voters and try to curb costs in a couple of those areas,” Moulis said. “It is not perfect, but we know that there are certain drivers that we can’t control.”

He wants the community to feel like the budget is something they can stand behind, which is why he wants to discuss it throughout the process in a way that makes it feel accessible.

In Bickford’s room, several attendees brought up a desire for more transparent and consistent communication from the superintendent. Bickford said she wants to focus on improving community relationships with the schools and aims to make herself as accessible as possible.

“We are creating functional adults who will hopefully be successful some day,” she said. “For me, people drive my purpose. That is what I value. I will prioritize that because that is what I find important.”

She hopes to foster strong relationships that build trust so that people feel comfortable coming to her with problems and working together towards solutions.

The SAU 53 board meeting will be held on Monday evening at Pembroke Academy at 5 p.m., at which time the board will select Bickford or Moulis to fill the role.

 

Rachel Wachman can be reached at rwachman@cmonitor.com