The pressure is ramping up on the School Committee to conduct a formal superintendent search.
As some did when the interim Superintendent Thomas Geary was appointed superintendent in 2024, residents, once again, are asking the School Committee to conduct a formal search before the committee takes any action on Geary’s contract.
Over the last two weeks, more than 140 residents have signed an ipetitions.com online petition entitled “Conduct a Proper Superintendent Search for Lynnfield Public Schools.” The petition states that, “In 2024, the School Committee bypassed a public search and appointed the current Superintendent—our town’s chief financial officer—who had no prior experience as a school administrator or district leader. While he may grow into the role, the stakes are too high to rely on potential alone. This is not about any one person. It’s about process, qualifications, and ensuring the best outcome for Lynnfield’s students.”
Five residents spoke during public participation at the committee’s May 20 meeting, asking the committee to conduct a search.
Former committee member Phil McQueen supports starting a superintendent search “to ensure that the school system has the most qualified leader.” McQueen said there are “many more people” who have not signed the petition who are in favor of a superintendent search; “however, they don’t feel comfortable signing the petition for fear of reprisal. This is very disturbing.”
McQueen cautioned that if the June 4 override fails, he believes a big factor will be those who oppose it because they are unhappy with school leadership and the budget process.
McQueen said the Kim Baker-Donahue landslide win at the polls was a “resounding mandate to get things done. “One of the issues she ran on was the importance of starting a conversation about a superintendent search,” He urged the committee to “start listening to what your constituents have to say… also, starting a superintendent search could sway more people to vote for the override.”
Lindsay Weiss said, “It’s time for the community to take a thoughtful, honest look at the state of the district leadership. I don’t think leadership is just about showing up. I think it’s about the right fit with experience and qualifications to move this district forward. Many people in our community feel something essential is missing.”
Weiss thinks the superintendent “can be doing a good job,” but residents “can and should expect more. Lynnfield should not be a community of good-enough.”
Weiss said Geary “does not have the fundamental things that most superintendents have.” She said he lacks experience in several areas, including school-based leadership, special education oversight, and curriculum.
“How can we be confident that Mr. Geary truly understands and understands the instruction, operational, and community-facing aspects of this position?” she asked.
She said, “The absence of Mr. Geary from the major presentation speaks volumes,” as does the Select Board’s appointment of Town Administrator Rob Dolan as a voting member of the district’s negotiating team and the Select Board’s mandate that Geary must now report to the Select Board on a monthly basis.
“These things imply a lack of confidence among the town leaders,” Weiss said.
She said many parents feel “disconnected, dismissed,” and there is a “notable lack of parent engagement. Families feel they are not being heard.”
She said the district missed an opportunity to “follow the process” when the School Committee voted 4-1 in 2024 to hire Geary without an “open, inclusive, transparent search.”
She wants to know if “we have the best person in place to lead the district?… why can’t we begin the discussion as a community to evaluate the best person?”
Weiss also felt that the School Committee’s decision to put the superintendent evaluation on the June 3 agenda, the day before the Special Election, “implies that Mr. Geary is not going to be getting any constructive criticism that can possibly concern the voters. That worries me. It is unreasonable to suggest that the search is taking away from the override vote, and the evaluation doesn’t.
Chair Kristen Elworthy said there will be a “summative evaluation” on June 3.
“There are steps to get there, but we are having a discussion about the superintendent’s next steps, and then we would have steps after that. I can’t predict what deliberation,” Elworthy said.
Weiss persisted, saying, “There’s a call for this to be added on the agenda.”
Elworthy said she “couldn’t get too much into it as it would be an open meeting law violation.”
Edelyn Beauvais-Thomas also requested the search be added to the agenda..
“I think it is something that the community feels very strongly about. If we are allowing the most senior leader in our district to bypass such an important search, what gives me confidence that we’re not going to do it again?” she asked.
Jillian String cited the recent election when the blank vote finished second behind only Baker-Donahue.
“The voting populace delivered a resounding call to action at the polls. If this committee continues to dismiss students’, staff, and community members’ calls for accountability and action, I am afraid the polls on June 4 will speak even louder than April, and that’s just something we can’t afford.”
She said the district’s vision on having the best in the schools “keeps getting lost, it keeps getting clouded by inexperience, and, in some cases, inexcusable actions. The community has repeatedly called for searches, resignations, more transparent budget processes, but they all seem to have fallen on deaf ears.”
She called on the committee to acknowledge district weaknesses and “come together in support of our common vision for our schools, which includes both passing the override and a community-inclusion superintendent search.”
Brian Moreira said Geary’s contract contains a “key provision” that if the committee fails to give Geary notice of non-renewal by Oct. 1, the contract automatically extends for three years through 2028.
“That means the window for a thoughtful, transparent process opens now, adding a search is an opportunity to validate and reaffirm our current leadership,” Moreira said.
Morreira said the committee has an “obligation to determine and assess citizens’ desires.” He noted there have been several “troubling” incidents over the last eight months, among them the way school safety incidents were handled, the absence of long-term financial planning, and “public actions that have appeared to undermine or target elected officials.” He said the decision of the Select Board to appoint Dolan to the negotiating team and requiring Geary to report to the board “highlights the need for stronger leadership, clearer communication, and mutual trust between the district and town officials.
Moreira referred to the committee’s decision to appoint Geary as superintendent in July 2024 came after “significant public input asking for a search.
“We can choose a different path this time.”
Moreira questioned what the “next steps” referred to by Elworthy mean, asking if next steps refer to “launching a superintendent search process or is the discussion related to contract renewal? The public deserves clarity, a seat at the table in shaping this decision.”
Former school employee Kathleen Dario said she was sorry that “a part of our community doesn’t think that we have the best superintendent.”
