Published November 15, 2019
MELROSE — The city will soon be looking for its next chief educational officer after Supt. of Schools Cyndy Taymore told the School Committee this week that she plans to retire at the end of the current academic year.
Her retirement takes effect at the end of June.
The public schools leader since 2012, Taymore succeeded the late Joseph Casey as Melrose superintendent. At that time she was the assistant schools superintendent in Bedford and was one of five finalists. The School Committee gave her the job officially on March 29, 2012.
During a roll call vote on their preferred candidate, six School Committee members chose Taymore while one voted for Dr. James Kelleher, interim superintendent of Scituate’s public schools. A motion was then made to select Taymore as the next School Department leader and the vote was unanimous.
Casey retired at the end of the current 2011-12 school year.
The five finalists were interviewed by the School Committee and also spent entire days in the district, visiting with a variety of School Department “stakeholders” such as teachers and parent groups.
The School Committee decided when it looked for Casey’s successor that in order to attract the best candidates for schools’ superintendent, the salary had to be competitive. A salary range from $125,000 to $190,000 was set.
Taymore began work here on July 1, 2012.
Taymore completed postgraduate coursework in Government and Politics at UMass Boston and has two master of arts degrees — one in Business and Organizational Communication at Emerson College and the other in Linguistics/Education at Salem State. Her bachelor of arts degree in English (with a minor in Education) was earned at The American University in Washington, D.C.
She had been assistant superintendent in Bedford since July 2010. Before that she was Bedford schools’ director of Special Education.
Taymore was the Malden schools’ secondary program manager for Special Education from July 2002 to June 2009; was a team chairperson in Malden from August 2001 to June 2002; served as program coordinator of the Treffler Foundation for Boston Public Schools from July 1999 to July 2001 and was a mediator with Solutions for Living in the Boston schools from August 1998 to June 1999.
Additionally, Taymore served as a consultant, an instructor at Marian Court Junior College and as a teacher in the Woburn Schools.
According to her resume, Taymore has overseen the Bedford schools’ goals and objectives, “including setting priorities, planning, implementation and assessment as a member of district’s Leadership Team.” She has also “advanced (the Bedford schools) goal to improve student outcomes via instructional and curriculum initiatives and create a system of academic and behavioral supports to address the needs of all students and improve outcomes.”
Taymore has “coordinated and supervised the development, implementation and evaluation of the overall program of instruction, assessment and pupil personnel services to ensure compliance with (Bedford’s) goals and state and federal standards.”
She has also backed staff “in the adoption of new technologies including pilots using iPads, iPod touches, net books and Nooks as well as the expansion of Smartboards and Web 2.0 skills throughout the district.”
Taymore also has experience in determining staffing needs, training new staff and evaluating educators.
She has overseen Special Education administrators, as well as METCO directors, Title I coordinators and a director of Reading and Literacy “in their responsibilities with their respective populations.”