By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — The School Committee voted to extend Superintendent Tom Geary’s contract through June 30, 2029 in a 3-2 vote during a June 12 meeting.
Geary’s contract was discussed during two separate School Committee meetings last week on June 10 and June 12 respectively that included discussions in both public and executive session. The School Committee moved up the June 12 meeting’s start time to 4 p.m. from its usual start at 6 p.m. in order to allow the panel and Geary to attend Lynnfield for Love and the North Shore Juneteenth Association’s third annual Juneteenth Flag Raising Ceremony.
After a 30-minute executive session on June 12, School Committee Vice Chair Jim Dillon made a motion to approve Geary’s contract that School Committee Chair Kristen Grieco Elworthy negotiated with the superintendent. School Committee member Kate DePrizio seconded Dillon’s motion.
School Committee member Kim Baker Donahue said she was going to vote no on extending Geary’s contract.
“As I said the other night, I just feel that I don’t have enough information right now to support that,” said Baker Donahue.
School Committee member Jamie Hayman opposed extending Geary’s contract as well.
“Tom, here is what I will say,” said Hayman, who voted against appointing Geary as superintendent last summer. “I don’t agree with this. I have been pretty clear about that. I think there are a number of people in the community who have expressed concerns. My ask of you is make me wrong. Just please prove me wrong. I will be the first to come and admit I made a mistake. For the sake of our 2,200 students, I want to be wrong and I need to be wrong.”
Elworthy said that she appreciated “the work (Geary) has done over the past year.”
“I feel great about bringing you on for a secure amount of time where you can do some strategic planning,” said Elworthy. “We can take it from there. Thanks for all of the work this year and the team that you brought in as well.”
DePrizio agreed.
“I also want to say thank you as well for this year,” said DePrizio. “I really do look forward to the strategic planning and I am grateful to have you aboard to make some meaningful change in the next four years.”
After the brief public discussion, Elworthy, Dillon and DePrizio voted to extend Geary’s contract. Baker Donahue and Hayman both voted no.
“Thank you for the opportunity,” said Geary after the vote. “I am sure there are people who are thrilled about this and maybe there are some who aren’t. My goal is to just work to bring everyone together. The work is about the kids. That is what I would really like this whole group and myself to focus on going forward.”
According to Geary’s contract, he will continue serving as superintendent of schools through June 30, 2029. He will be earning a $222,360 salary next year, which represents a 2 percent increase over his fiscal year 2025 salary.
Geary’s four-year contract is longer than all five School Committee members’ respective terms.
SC debates extension
The School Committee engaged in a lengthy and contentious debate about extending Geary’s contract while he was present throughout the discussion during the June 10 meeting.
Baker Donahue said the school system was in a “terrible place” when prior School Committees voted to appoint Geary as acting superintendent, interim superintendent and then permanent superintendent.
“I also said during (June 3’s) School Committee meeting that I agree that morale really has gotten a lot better,” said Baker Donahue. “Teachers and administrators have been given a voice back to be able to partner with us in helping our children learn and grow. I am grateful for that.”
Baker Donahue said Geary’s tenure has resulted in a divided community, with residents advocating for a superintendent search and other residents urging the School Committee to extend his contract.
“We have had public comment on both sides of this,” said Baker Donahue. “We have had a handful of people say we need a search and we have a had a handful of people who have said Superintendent Geary is the right fit. I want to hear more. I want to hear data, I want evidence and I want to make the most informed and supported decision that we can. We have enough information to know we don’t have enough information.”
Baker Donahue said the School Committee should take some time before extending Geary’s contract.
“We have an opportunity to do due diligence and support whatever decision we make with hard numerical data in addition to the moral compass,” said Baker Donahue. “If we do not do that, I believe that is a reckless disregard for what we as the School Committee is charged to do. I am suggesting that we take some time to get more information.”
Hayman concurred with Baker Donahue’s viewpoint.
“I know that we have talked about the fact there is data, but I don’t necessarily agree we have seen the data,” said Hayman. “I have gone through and I have six pages of notes that I took around the data on the evaluation. I think this is a big step in terms of thinking about who we want to lead our district. I am not in a position right now where I have seen the data to say we should do this. To be fair, I am open to having more conversations.”
Dillon said Baker Donahue’s suggestions for moving forward “would probably be very, very appropriate for doing a search.” However, he supported extending Geary’s contract.
“The actions you have taken on behalf of the staff and students speak louder than words,” said Dillon. “Just a tremendous positive impact. It has been a privilege working with you this year Tom.”
DePrizio said Geary’s “dedication and commitment to our students, our staff, our community and the town of Lynnfield is unparalleled.” She said Geary’s “effective and determined leadership is precisely what we need to continue to move the district forward.”
Elworthy said she could relate to Baker Donahue’s viewpoint because she was in a similar position when a different School Committee voted to appoint Geary as permanent superintendent last summer. While Elworthy initially supported a search, she later changed her mind and voted to appoint him as superintendent.
“The issue that I am having with the way this is being discussed is that we are talking about Tom’s contract as though he is an interim superintendent,” said Elworthy. “We made a conscious decision last year as a board to make Tom a permanent superintendent. If we wanted to test him out and have other applicants, I would have never voted to do that. And if things didn’t work out, we wanted to have a short enough contract where we could make a change.”
Elworthy said there are residents who have advocated for appointing a superintendent with classroom and building-based administrative experience. After reviewing superintendent job postings on the Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MASC) website, she argued that, “It is no longer a requirement for superintendents to spend time in a classroom.”
“I get why people feel that way, but we have very strong curriculum support in this district and we have an assistant superintendent who is very strong on curriculum,” said Elworthy.
Elworthy said Baker Donahue’s two-month tenure on the School Committee means that “you are not going to have a year of getting the same information that everyone else is having.” She said the School Committee should make a decision on Geary’s contract sooner than later.
“The summertime is when Tom would start his strategic plan, which he cannot do if he has a year on his contract, or it is when we would start our superintendent search planning process if we decided not to move forward with Tom,” said Elworthy. “We are killing that time. For myself, I have the data and information I need to make this decision now.”
Baker Donahue pushed back on Elworthy’s assertion.
“To be clear, I am not saying to search or not to search,” said Baker Donahue. “There is a third path here and I think we are missing that point. I do feel like you are discrediting my opinion a little bit. I have been around just as long as everybody else. I may not have been behind this table, but I have been around just as long as everybody else.”
Baker Donahue stressed that the School Committee needed to take time to address residents’ “concerns in a way that will get people to back whichever decision that we make.”
Elworthy reiterated that the School Committee needed to make a decision about Geary’s contract.
“Of course we do, but we have time to do that,” said Baker Donahue in response. “I don’t believe that we are killing time. We are not killing time by hearing what other people’s concerns are and addressing those. That is not killing time. That is making an actual use of time.”
Elworthy said there is “a cost to waiting” and she was “not willing to pay that cost.”
Baker Donahue asked Elworthy “how do you respond to the community does not feel like they have enough information.”
“I don’t think everybody in the community would agree with that,” said Elworthy. “There are 1,500 or 1,400 families in the district who are most likely going to have different opinions and people are going to feel certain ways regardless. It is our job to evaluate and make decisions on our superintendent, and part of that is based on our evaluation. There has certainly been feedback from the community on both directions. I am not sure it is our job to make everybody happy about every decision.”
Hayman recalled that Geary’s background is in school finance and not teaching or school administration. He said he has been looking for him to “fill in those gaps” this year.
“I think what it comes down to is I haven’t heard enough from Tom in these meetings about what matters to him and what are his values,” said Hayman. “If you asked me what does Tom stand for and what is he striving for, I want to hear more and I need to hear more. I haven’t heard enough. I can only base on what I see in these meetings on a week-to-week basis. I think it is a big incomplete right now. That is where I am.”
Elworthy disagreed with Hayman.
“I look at that as all talk and no action,” said Elworthy.
Hayman stressed that Geary can do “simple things like interacting with participants” at meetings.
“I think there is more information we need to gather,” said Hayman. “I am not there right now.”