By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — Superintendent Kristen Vogel gave an update on her goals for the 2021-2022 academic year during a recent School Committee meeting.
The goals Vogel established as part of the state-mandated superintendent evaluation pertain to district improvement, professional practice and student learning. The goals are connected to the School Department’s strategic plan and each school’s improvement plan.
The district improvement goal Vogel established involved having the superintendent work with the Administrative Leadership Team (ALT) and educators as part of an effort to “strengthen instructional practices with a focus on equity, social justice and diversity.” In order to accomplish the goal, Vogel worked to identify, revise and update school district policies, practices and procedures “in order to best support the increasingly diverse needs” of students and families.
Vogel’s professional practice goal involved relationship building. Vogel said she worked to build “strong relationships with the School Committee and the teachers’ union while developing a high-functioning leadership team of district administrators and principals.”
The student learning goal Vogel established pertained to evaluating administrators and teachers during classroom visits to make sure “effective instructional practices” are being taught in all four schools.
Vogel created a video that showed her undertaking the goals. The meeting’s attendees gave her a round of applause after the video concluded.
School Committee member Jamie Hayman noted that the board will be using the goals to evaluate Vogel. He said the last time the school board evaluated a superintendent occurred in the spring of 2019 when retired Superintendent Jane Tremblay was still leading the district.
“We deferred them last year because of the pandemic, but we looked at the onboarding plan,” said Hayman.
Hayman said all five School Committee members will be using the superintendent’s evaluation form from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to evaluate Vogel.
“It will be based on what Kristen’s goals are,” said Hayman.
After each committee member completes an individual evaluation, Hayman said each one will be sent to School Committee Chair Rich Sjoberg. He said Sjoberg will be compiling each evaluation into a single document.
“It’s a very difficult job to pull all of that together,” said Hayman. “It’s time-consuming, but certainly worth it. We will likely present the evaluation at the first meeting in September.”
Hayman commended Vogel’s job performance during her second year leading Lynnfield Public Schools.
“Kristen’s first real year was not in total crisis, but partial crisis,” said Hayman. “I think she made a lot of progress. I appreciate the increased communication. I know that is something that parents and the community are always asking for.”
Hayman also said he appreciated Vogel and the ALT’s decision to have educators use professional development time to identify students’ “skill gaps” that resulted from learning being disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We know there are academic skill gaps, but I don’t think they are as big as we thought they would be,” said Hayman.
School Committee member Kate DePrizio said she appreciated Vogel being accessible to educators, staff and the community.
“It has been such a joy seeing Kristen be so accessible to everyone,” said DePrizio. “I know the community appreciates having her at events.”
School Committee Vice Chair Stacy Dahlstedt said Vogel “hit the ground running” as soon as she became superintendent of schools.
“This year was just as if not more challenging than last year because we had to continue balancing the COVID restrictions for the first half of the school year with also meeting the increasingly challenging needs of our students,” said Dahlstedt. “We also had the elementary schools’ building project, which was no small feat. Kristen also hired a new principal for Summer Street School and a new athletic director/K-12 physical education, health and wellness coordinator.”
Dahlstedt also commended Vogel for prioritizing diversity, equity and inclusion.
“Kristen continues to work tirelessly on equity to ensure all of our students are supported,” said Dahlstedt. “I am also impressed with her relationship building efforts with us, community leaders, the ALT, teachers, staff, parents and students. That is really important for a district leader. This year marked the first time many of us had participated in contract negotiations with the Lynnfield Teachers Association, and she was instrumental in our success. I also appreciate Kristen identifying areas where we can improve the district. There are good things to come.”
Dahlstedt also commended Vogel for “always putting our students first.”
“We benefit from having Kristen as our district leader,” said Dahlstedt.
Sjoberg and School Committeeman Phil McQueen were unable to attend the meeting due to having prior commitments.
