Published June 19, 2019
By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — The School Committee commended Superintendent Jane Tremblay’s job performance during a June 11 meeting.
As part of the state-mandated educator evaluation, School Committee Chairman Jamie Hayman recently distributed evaluation forms for committee members to use in order to evaluate Tremblay’s job performance. After collecting each member’s evaluation, Hayman created an evaluation instrument that gave an overview of Tremblay’s job performance.
Hayman noted former School Committee member Dorothy Presser completed an evaluation form as well as newly-elected member Stacy Dahlstedt.
“The consensus on the School Committee is that we are very fortunate to have a superintendent of the caliber of Mrs. Tremblay,” said Hayman.
Summative evaluation
In the summative evaluation component of the job review, the School Committee gave Tremblay a proficient rating.
“Proficient practice is understood to be fully satisfactory,” said Hayman. “This is a rigorous expected level of performance.”
Hayman noted the School Committee gave Tremblay a “high” rating on student learning as part of the summative evaluation.
“The options are low, moderate or high,” said Hayman. “It was unanimous that it was high.”
According to the evaluation, the School Committee was pleased with Tremblay’s job performance this year.
“There was consensus agreement amongst the School Committee that the 2018-2019 school year was a very good year for the Lynnfield Public Schools and that Superintendent Tremblay did a good moving the district forward,” the evaluation instrument stated.
According to the evaluation instrument, the School Committee “identified instructional leadership and professional culture as two areas in which the Lynnfield Public Schools and Superintendent Tremblay have excelled this year.”
“We recognize that these are two areas that link closely,” the evaluation instrument states. “Throughout the year, we have seen evidence of Superintendent Tremblay’s instructional leadership skills via vertical teaming, district-wide transfer goals and the continued progress made in implementing Understanding by Design.”
The evaluation instrument also stated that, “The School Committee has observed a clear strategy that connects all actions within the district.”
“The committee also recognizes the time required and thoroughness of her approach in integrating two new Administrative Leadership Team members,” the evaluation instrument stated. “This year has featured a very strong and focused professional development sequence, designed to give educators the skills they need to deliver on our district goals and adapt to evolving learning and social-emotional trends. As stated multiple times, in previous years, Superintendent Tremblay’s standards for excellence are incredibly high. This is evidenced through walkthroughs, assessment meetings and the use of data throughout the district.”
Goals
Hayman noted Tremblay established four goals pertaining to professional practice, student learning and district improvement. According to the evaluation, a superintendent can exceed, meet, show significant progress, show some progress or not meet established goals.
Tremblay established two district improvement goals this year, and the school board stated the superintendent met both goals. One of the goals pertained to improving community partnerships.
The second district improvement goal entailed having Tremblay collaborate with administrators and teachers in order to strengthen resources for social-emotional learning. The School Committee stated the superintendent met the goal.
Tremblay’s professional practice goal sought to ensure the Administrative Leadership Team “remains a high functioning team” as the district welcomed Summer Street School Principal Dr. Karen Dwyer and Student Services Director Roberta Keane this year. Hayman said half of the six evaluators stated Tremblay exceeded the goal and the other half stated she met the goal.
Hayman said Tremblay met the student-learning goal, which entailed implementing the third year of the school system’s Understanding by Design curriculum initiative.
Standards
In addition to evaluating Tremblay’s performance toward achieving all four goals, the School Committee evaluated the superintendent’s performance on four performance standards that are required by the state-mandated evaluation system. The standards pertain to the areas of instructional leadership, management and operations, family and community engagement, and professional culture.
“This is the same bar that teachers are held to and is the same bar administrators are held to,” said Hayman.
The School Committee gave Tremblay an exemplary/proficient rating for the instructional leadership and management and operations standards. The school board gave Tremblay a proficient rating on the family and community engagement standard.
“The School Committee recognized family and community engagement, which includes communication, as an area that is proficient and had seen some areas of success,” the evaluation instrument stated. “Every member of the School Committee acknowledged the effort that has gone into improving communication and family engagement within the district. This includes the creation of a Facebook page for increased communication, the Key Communicators Group, partnering with A Healthy Lynnfield and parent presentations such as Kathi Sullivan. We appreciate the commitment to continuous improvement and see this as an area of continued focus.”
The evaluation instrument also stated Tremblay received a proficient rating on the professional culture standard.
Reaction
Tremblay thanked the School Committee for the positive job performance review.
“It’s hard to sit here and hear all of those nice things,” said Tremblay. “Thank you so much. There is no way I could do the work that has to be done in this district without the support of this committee. That should never go unrecognized. This School Committee and the way you support me, the administrators and the teachers is a big reason why Lynnfield Public Schools is as good as it is.”
Tremblay noted she recently met with a group of teachers who have just completed their first year working for the school system.
“A number of them have said in my meetings with them they feel privileged to be part of Lynnfield,” said Tremblay. “I continue to say that 33 years later, I pinch myself that I landed in Lynnfield and I am in this position to lead such a great district. It is truly a privilege to be able to do this work.”
Hayman thanked the current School Committee members and Presser for working to craft each individual evaluation.
“This is a pretty exhaustive process and I want to recognize the committee for all of the work that went into this,” said Hayman.
School Committeeman Tim Doyle thanked Hayman for compiling the evaluation instrument.
“This is a Herculean task,” said Doyle. “If you have never been through it, it’s literally torture. Jamie did an awesome job.”