← School Committee · 2025-11-18 · School Committee
Report: Superintendent Mid-Year Evaluation
Agenda original PDF
Minutes original PDF
o all students and the community. Chair Withey then reminded the Committee that, per contract, they must notify Ms. Berman of the superintendent hiring process for the 2026- 2027 school year by December 31, 2025. This process will be discussed at the upcoming December meetings. 5. ANNOUNCMENTS OF THE SUPERINTENDENT Interim Superintendent Berman thanked the Committee for their feedback and support, stating it was her pleasure to serve the community. She expressed looking forward to the second half of the year. 1. Report: Personnel Interim Superintendent Berman presented the Personnel Report, also noting some open positions. She confirmed that, with the exception of two Chapter 70-funded Reading Specialist positions, all current vacancies were part of the approved spring budget. Ms. Berman indicated that the two Reading Specialist roles are close to being filled. The Committee discussed challenges surrounding the timing of hiring cycles and the overall decrease in new teaching candidates. 2. Report: Enrollment Updates Ms. Berman shared the current enrollment update from the packet which has remained fairly consistent, and offered to answer any questions from the committee.
Transcript
▶ 18:12 Speaker 1: Alright, next we have a report in our packet for the superintendent mid-year of feedback evaluation. So I just wanna share in your packet, you're gonna find a memo that synthesizes the formative mid-year feedback that was provided by each of you, um, regarding the performance of interim superintendent Gary Berman. As you can see, the overall consensus is that Ms. Berman has provided skillful, steady, and highly effective leadership during a period marked by significant organizational transition and budgetary challenges. Based on the feedback thus far, I believe that Ms. Berman is on track toward proficiency by the end of the year. I wanna also just give anyone an opportunity to add any additional thoughts or reactions to the document before we move on. So is there anything anyone else might wanna add? Ms. Razzi? Thomas, go ahead. I
▶ 19:03 Speaker 3: Just wanna mention that six months ago we were in a pretty unsteady state. We were unsure of how the impacts of the cuts were gonna be on our educational system, and we had a superintendent in his first year decide to leave us. So I just appreciate the courage and the willingness that you've shown, um, superintendent Berman to step up to the plate and take care of our district, take care of our students, take care of our families, and take care of our educators during a time of great uncertainty. And now I hope you get to enjoy some of the fruits of your labor through getting to decide what to do with some of the override money that we're going to receive eventually. Um, I just, uh, really respect the way that you, um, developed a vision very quickly and helped us through a, a time of uncertainty. So thank you very much. Thank you,
▶ 19:52 Speaker 1: Ms. Dco.
▶ 19:53 Margaret Raymond Driscoll: Um, I think that, um, interim Superintendent Berman has come in, um, as, uh, Ms. Rousey Thomas said at somewhat of a challenging time. And I've particularly appreciated your, uh, intense focus on students and on the mission of this district. You are student centered, you are, uh, student focused. I've seen that in your practice for 20 years. And I think it really speaks to the kind of person you are first before you're an educator, before you're a leader. And I think you've done that unfailingly. And so I think that is a, a hallmark of you as an individual and a leader. And also shows dedication not only to the students, uh, we serve, but also to all the community members who supported us throughout your showing that you care, care about students, first families, and all of those taxpayers who serve them by way of your leadership has been very impactful and I appreciate it.
▶ 20:56 Speaker 5: Thank you. Anyone else?
▶ 21:04 Speaker 1: I'll add that in accordance to Ms. Berman's contract, the committee is required to notify her of the process for hiring a superintendent for the 26 27 school year by December 31st, 2025. So consequently, I would anticipate that we'll be discussing that process during our upcoming December meetings, and I wanted to just share that proactively here tonight as well. And with that, I will turn it over to you, superintendent to move on to our next item, which is announcements of the superintendent.