“This is the biggest job, besides working on the budget, that the school board has to do,” Taylor said in response to a query from resident Lorienton Palmer. She explained that the criteria the board used to select Scannell were drawn up four years ago, during the executive search that resulted in the hiring of Mapes. “We talked to three executive search firms,” Taylor said, “and took their advice that if we had an in-house candidate, we could consider them for the position instead of going through a long and expensive search.”

Taylor added that Scannell was an outstanding choice to lead Baldwin into its future. “We decided that we already had someone in our district who fit all of the criteria we were looking for in a superintendent,” she said. “That person was Mr. Scannell. He’s been in education for many, many years. He is a longstanding community member, and he’s an excellent leader. We felt that Mr. Scannell exceeded our search criteria and we had the benefit of a three-year interview with him. We don’t get that all the time, and I think that we were very lucky.”

Taylor’s remarks were met by more applause. This time, however, a composed Scannell remained in his seat.