By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — The School Committee voted 4-1 to appoint Tom Geary as permanent superintendent of schools, subject to successful contract negotiations, during a contentious July 10 meeting.
Geary, who had been serving as interim superintendent since February, began working for the district in July 2006 as the School Department’s finance director. His title was changed to assistant superintendent of finance and operations in the fall of 2022. Geary was appointed acting superintendent last December after former Superintendent Kristen Vogel went on a medical leave of absence.
During the public participation portion of the meeting held before the vote, a number of parents urged the School Committee to hold off appointing Geary and to conduct a search for a permanent superintendent (see separate story).
School Committee member Jamie Hayman also wrote on his Facebook page a few hours before the meeting that he opposed appointing Geary as superintendent at this time because he wanted a “full and transparent search” for the district’s next leader to be conducted.
“I think Tom has done a really good job and I don’t want to take that away from him,” said Hayman during the meeting. “He has gotten us through the budget and some personnel crises, and he has largely stabilized a volatile situation. I appreciate that. He absolutely deserves consideration for this job. It doesn’t take away from the fact that we are hiring someone to lead our schools who hasn’t spent time in schools. That is concerning to me.”
Hayman said his four School Committee colleagues were in a “rush” to appoint Geary as superintendent, and said the panel first discussed the possibility of appointing him during a June 21 summer workshop. After Geary left the room, he said School Committee Chair Kate DePrizio “brought up the idea of making Tom the full-time superintendent.”
DePrizio said she asked the rest of the School Committee if they were “interested in extending” Geary’s contract.
“That is common practice,” said DePrizio. “If the answer was no, we would proceed to next steps and further discussion. That was the only question I asked. There was no pitching of Tom Geary. I asked as chair so that I could do my due diligence and prepare for further next steps that we would have to explore.”
Hayman said he and School Committee Vice Chair Kristen Grieco Elworthy were both “surprised” by the conversation.
“At no point in this process had Tom expressed an interest in this job,” said Hayman.
“That is categorically untrue,” DePrizio fired back in response.
Hayman disagreed.
“If somebody wants a job in any industry, the first thing you do is make sure people know you want the job,” said Hayman. “There had been no expressed interest in that job to me or Kristen.”
In response to a question from DePrizio, Hayman said it was “not my job to ask” Geary if he was interested in the superintendent position.
Elworthy, who read a statement that responded to Hayman’s Facebook post at the beginning of the meeting, said she did not know Geary was interested in becoming permanent superintendent until last month’s workshop.
“I had a conversation with Tom after that,” said Elworthy.
Hayman said he wanted the School Committee to interview Geary and other superintendent candidates because he wanted to learn about “their vision and where they want to take” Lynnfield Public Schools moving forward.
“I want to know they have a good understanding of their strengths and weaknesses, and how they are going to compliment that,” said Hayman. “We have not heard any of that.”
Geary said he discussed his interest in the superintendent job with DePrizio, Elworthy and School Committee members Jim Dillon and Jenny Sheehan.
“You and I have talked once in the last seven months, and it was about surveys,” Geary said to Hayman. “One time. The other four members talk to me frequently. I did not get a courtesy nor did anyone else about your Facebook post. You said you hadn’t heard from me on June 27. Four other people reached out in the past two weeks.”
Hayman said the School Department is “likely” going to need an override of Proposition 2 ½ in the next couple of years.
“How do we expect the town to trust us if we are giving someone a $200,000 a year job without any input or even an interview?” Hayman inquired.
Elworthy said town officials told her they support Geary being appointed as superintendent.
“I also made some phone calls to parents who are vocal,” said Elworthy. “It was a small sample and I was figuring they would want a search. What I heard surprised me, and that is when I started digging a bit deeper. I’m not saying this is a perfect process, and I also don’t think a superintendent search is a perfect process. I understand an interview has formal questions we could ask. However, we have had a six-month audition and a 17-year job history.”
Hayman said it was clear to him that his four School Committee colleagues decided to appoint Geary as superintendent. He also said he hopes his concerns about appointing him as superintendent are “wrong.”
“For the sake of this district, I will do everything that I can to help Tom succeed and I hope he does succeed,” said Hayman.
DePrizio said Geary is “succeeding.”
“Tom is succeeding in all of the jobs that he has in an exemplary way day in and day out,” said DePrizio. “He is looking at all ways to move this district forward. I find it a little bit dismissive of the effort, the intent and the hard work he has been doing.”
Hayman said he was not being dismissive.
“There is no dismissiveness there,” said Hayman. “Kristen Vogel came here in the middle of a crisis, and she did a good job managing us through the crisis. We got through the pandemic and then we took our eye off the ball. Managing needed to be replaced with leadership. I would just implore us not to make the same mistakes, keep our eye on the ball, keep our eye on the leadership piece of this, make sure we are holding high standards and go from there.”
Elworthy said appointing Geary to a two-year contract is “conservative.”
“I don’t want to be dismissive of an interview, but anybody can make up anything when they don’t know what is happening in the district yet,” said Elworthy.
After the discussion, DePrizio, Elworthy, Dillon and Sheehan voted to appoint Geary as superintendent, subject to successful contract negotiations. Hayman voted no.
“I want to thank the committee and the community for the confidence they have placed in me the past few months,” said Geary immediately after the vote. “We are going to continue doing the work. There is a lot of work to do and we have to keep going.”
