Brookline Names Finalist For School Superintendent Job

BROOKLINE, MA — Brookline this week named a finalist in its years-long search to find a permanent superintendent of schools. The school committee said it hopes to make a final decision by March 4.

A search committee has named Linus Guillory, who has been an administrator in the Lowell Public School District for the past year and a half, as their top choice to lead the district.

Eighteen candidates applied, including three who identified as Black, two as Asian and 13 white. Half of the candidates were women, according to the committee.

Eight of the candidates made it to the interview process. The committee recommended three finalists, but two of the three withdrew their candidacy "for various reasons," according to the school committee.

Guillory, who has his PHD in environmental science, began his career as a middle school science teacher in Texas before joining the NASA Johnson Space Center as an educational specialist in 2002.

He's worked as an assistant principal and principal, school chief and deputy superintendent from Texas to New York. In 2018, he moved to the area to work as an academic superintendent for the Boston Public Schools. In 2019, he became chief schools officer for the Lowell Public Schools. It was the Lowell Superintendent Joel Boyd encouraged him to apply for the Brookline job and the Rochester Teachers Association recommended him, according to the school committee.

Guillory is set to visit the district this week and meet teachers, families and community members virtually on Zoom at 7:30 p.m. as a way to for members of the community to provide feedback to the School Committee. There will also be separate meetings with staff and students.

He's set to visit Ridley and Pierce schools in person and then Brookline High, Interim Superintendent Jim Marini, and other principals Feb. 26, before meeting with the teachers union.

The school committee will hold their final interview with Guillory on March 1 on Zoom.

The announcement comes two years after Superintendent Andrew Bott abruptly resigned, a year after Interim Superintendent Ben Lummis ended his term, and halfway through Interim Superintendent Jim Marini's stewardship of the district through pandemic.

To register for the Feb. 24 Zoom meeting:
https://brooklinema.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_Nm55P1OHR3Onob4h4JwoYQ

Meeting ID: 161 140 9237
Passcode: 72455269