By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — The School Committee will be discussing whether to offer Interim Superintendent Tom Geary the permanent chief educational officer position during its next meeting on Wednesday, July 10.
Geary was appointed as interim superintendent in late February. Geary, who was previously serving as the assistant superintendent of finance and operations, had been serving as acting superintendent after former Superintendent Kristen Vogel went on a medical leave of absence last December. The School Committee and Vogel agreed to go their separate ways in late February.
School Committee member Jim Dillon announced during a June 27 meeting that he will be making a motion at the July 10 meeting that will offer Geary the permanent superintendent job and extend his contract by an additional year.
“Tom Geary has been off to a truly sensational start as superintendent,” said Dillon.
Dillon commended Geary for working to “restore” school officials’ relationship with the Lynnfield Teachers Association, addressing the Differentiated Learning Program classrooms at Huckleberry Hill School and Lynnfield Middle School, and developing a balanced fiscal year 2025 budget. He also praised Geary for hiring Focus Technology to conduct an audit of the Technology Department and recommending that the Life-Threatening Allergy Management Policy’s regulation for cafeteria seating for the elementary schools be updated. He said he supports Geary’s goals for the district, but questioned whether they could be accomplished if he only has a one-year contract.
“With a one-year deal, a superintendent can be viewed as a short-timer or as a lame duck,” said Dillon. “As a short-timer, Tom could be waited out and the excellent goals that he has set for our students would end up being only paper tigers. I think the same applies to collective bargaining. We will begin bargaining a new agreement with the LTA. Every recent teacher contract negotiation has taken more than one year to settle. If Tom remains a one-year leader, it could really affect how much what he represents is taken seriously during bargaining. Again, the attitude could be just to wait it out.”
Dillon said giving Geary a two-year contract would move the school system forward.
“I would support giving Tom a second year as superintendent,” said Dillon. “He has been great, and it would give us a chance for continued stability and growth over the next two years and it would give Tom a fair chance to reach his goals. This would be more of a prove kind of contract.”
School Committee member Jenny Sheehan said Dillon “made really good points” because the panel will be engaged with collective bargaining and developing the FY26 budget next year.
“There is a lot of business to be done,” said Sheehan. “I think Jim makes a very good point that you can’t do anything if your hands are tied. If you are trying to hire a position or negotiate collective bargaining, anyone can say we are just going to ride it out. It is easy to look at a resume to find people who can do a job, but a resume doesn’t tell you how well they will do a job. Tom is already in the job and, from what I have seen, he is doing it very well. It is hard to find flaws in the way he does process. I haven’t worked with superintendents, but I have worked with CEOs and I am the CEO of my own business. Knowing the way to manage and build relationships and transparency and the way to communicate and manage people are skills that are harder to teach, and those are skills that he has. In terms of being a CEO and how he runs the business, it is going well.”
School Committee member Jamie Hayman said Geary has “done a very, very good job” as interim superintendent.
“I agree with what Jim said about the job he has done, but I feel as equally as strong that we have to find a long-term leader for the district,” said Hayman. “We put a plan in place that included eliminating the assistant superintendent of teaching and learning position as of 2025-2026. Kevin Cyr has taken a new role, so it has happened one year sooner. We did that with the intent of bringing in an educational leader at the superintendent level, who would create the academic and curriculum vision for this district. I think we owe it to the community and frankly owe it to Tom to do a search and see what is out there. And if we go out, do a search and find out that Tom is the best person for this role, great. And if there is someone else who is more qualified or will be able to take this district in another direction, then that is fine too. I am a little bit surprised that we are not thinking of doing a search and seeing what is out there.”
Dillon said he supported hiring an assistant superintendent to work with Geary.
“I have worked with nine superintendents in my career,” said Dillon, who is a retired middle school science teacher. “I have never had a superintendent involved with curriculum in my entire career. They have a vision and run the day-to-day, but you never have a superintendent talking about your science class. That’s the responsibility for the department heads and curriculum people.”
School Committee Vice Chair Kristen Grieco Elworthy said Geary has “done an excellent job” as interim superintendent.
“I think the easy decision to make is to search for a superintendent,” said Elworthy. “I am a turn over every stone type of person, and that was my first instinct. I have had more time to think about it, and I do think leadership is about making hard decisions and taking the full picture into account. I am only on board with this plan if the assistant superintendent role has an educational leadership background.”
If the School Committee decided to conduct a superintendent search, Elworthy said the individual who gets hired will be receiving a three-year contract.
“We do not know what we are going to get,” said Elworthy. “Two years is responsible. I was a critic of how long the previous superintendent’s contract was.”
In response to a question from Elworthy, School Committee Chair Kate DePrizio said the plan the board developed this past winter involved having a superintendent and an assistant superintendent leading Lynnfield Public Schools.
“The goal has always been having two at the top,” said DePrizio.
DePrizio said it has been “an absolute privilege” to work with Geary, and commended him for “prioritizing our staff and students.”
“Extending an interim superintendent is a common practice in other districts,” said DePrizio. “If you have someone in an interim role such as a principal or superintendent, they are often reviewed and given an opportunity to be extended if there are no deficits. Tom is a person who has no deficits that we see at this point. I think we all recognize that this has been an extremely tumultuous year for this district, and we have found some stability. The last thing I would want to do is put this district at risk. I absolutely believe that entering collective bargaining, the potential need for an operational override for this town and having to change leadership halfway through would be devastating and would put this district at risk. I will not do anything that will put our students, our staff and our community at risk. That would be the height of irresponsibility in my mind.”
Hayman asked Geary if he wants to serve as superintendent of schools.
Geary said yes.
“Okay. That is good to know,” said Hayman.
DePrizio said the School Committee’s next meeting is Wednesday, July 10, beginning at 6 p.m. at the Al Merritt Media and Cultural Center.
“Please feel free to email us, call us and reach out to us,” said DePrizio. “We will have public participation that will be unlimited that night for whoever would like to weigh in and voice their opinions on things.”
