The School Committee approved Superintendent Tom Geary’s new contract and presented the Assistant Superintendent Search Committee at its meeting.
The committee voted to appoint Geary superintendent at an earlier meeting on July 10.
School Committee Chair Kate DePrizio presented Geary’s renegotiated contract, which contained minor grammatical changes and revisions to his title and term dates. Under the renegotiated contract, Geary will still be paid his current salary of $218,000 through June 2026. It included an option for him to return to his position of assistant superintendent of finance and operations with a salary of $188,000 from June 2026 to June 2028 if his superintendent contract was not extended.
Committee member Jamie Hayman requested to move the vote to the committee’s next meeting and to hold an executive session and formally renegotiate Geary’s contract.
DePrizio restated that the renegotiated contract does not include a salary change and only includes “minor” changes, such as grammatical corrections, correct citations of relevant chapter laws, and term-date and title revisions.
“Since there was not a drastic change to this contract, it seemed very reasonable to respect Open Meeting Law and do that in the format of sharing the former contract, sharing the revision of the contract, (and) giving that information to each member,” DePrizio said.
Geary’s new position of superintendent will still include his role as finance and operations director, but there will not be a change in his salary, she said.
The motion to approve Geary’s renegotiated contract passed 4-1. Hayman voted against the motion.
DePrizio said the subcommittee to hire a new assistant superintendent has selected its committee and begun evaluating resumes.
The Assistant Superintendent Search Committee is made up of DePrizio, School Committee member Jim Dillon, Geary, Lynnfield Middle School Principal Stephen Ralston, Elementary Curriculum Director Maureen Fennessy, Lynnfield Middle School Special Education Teacher Donna Pantazelos, LMS/LHS Multilingual Learners Teacher Meg Valentine, and parent representatives Amanda Sheehan and Chris Mattia.
Later, DePrizio said the search committee conducted two interviews Tuesday, July 30 and will conduct another two on Thursday, Aug. 1.
She said the search committee will discuss and recommend two finalists, who Geary will review before recommending one to be publicly interviewed by the School Committee at its Aug. 7 meeting.
The School Committee will interview and potentially vote to approve the assistant superintendent in the same meeting, pending contract negotiations, DePrizio said.
