Published in the June 27, 2018 edition

By DAN TOMASELLO

LYNNFIELD — The School Committee commended Superintendent Jane Tremblay’s job performance this year during a June 19 meeting.

Tremblay’s performance evaluation was completely different than last year, when the school board gave the superintendent a mixed review in the aftermath of a challenging and difficult 2016-2017 school year.

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 outlining Tremblay’s successes and challenges.

Hayman noted former School Committeeman Salvatore Cammarata completed an evaluation form as well as newly-elected School Committee member Phil McQueen.

“The superintendent did very well this year,” said Hayman.

Summative evaluation

In the summative evaluation component of the job review, the School Committee gave Tremblay a proficient rating.

“Proficient is understood to be fully satisfactory,” said Hayman. “It’s described as a rigorous expected level of performance.”

The superintendent also received a “high” rating on the impact on student learning component of the summative evaluation.

“There was consensus agreement amongst the School Committee that 2017-2018 was a good year for the Lynnfield Public Schools and that Superintendent Tremblay did a good job moving the district forward,” reads 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.”

While the school board commended Tremblay for improving communication, the evaluation instrument stated there are “opportunities for further development.”

“Every member of the School Committee acknowledged the effort that has gone into improving communication in the district this year and the significant improvement we have seen from 2016-2017,” reads the evaluation instrument. “This includes the results of the communication survey, ongoing parent updates, more resources and better attended events for parents. We appreciate the improvements that have been made.”

The evaluation instrument stated “Superintendent Tremblay has done a very good job in 2017-2018.”

“The School Committee views her as an exceptional educational leader, who expects the best from students, faculty and staff,” reads the evaluation instrument. “(Tremblay) very much leads with students’ and families’ best interests in mind. This is evidenced by the work that is being done around social-emotional learning. She has also demonstrated a high level of self-awareness and self-reflection based on the work done around her communication goals. Superintendent Tremblay continues to move the district forward.”

Goals

Tremblay established four goals that the school board used as part of the process to evaluate her job performance. According to the evaluation, a superintendent can exceed, meet, show significant progress, show some progress or not meet established goals.

The superintendent established two district improvement goals for the 2017-2018 school year. The first goal entailed improving communication with parents and guardians. In order to accomplish the goal, Tremblay launched communication surveys seeking parent feedback.

According to the evaluation instrument, Tremblay met the communication goal.

The second district improvement goal Tremblay established involved her working with the School Committee, Board of Selectmen and community in order to “increase awareness of the roles of schools, families and the community in supporting healthy social and emotional learning environments for students.”

Tremblay met the social-emotional learning goal, the evaluation instrument stated.

The professional practice goal Tremblay established entailed working with Teaching and Learning Director Kevin Cyr, department heads and curriculum heads to “continue to build a shared vision for excellence in instructional practices and student achievement in the classroom.”

Hayman said the evaluation instrument indicated Tremblay exceeded in achieving the professional practice goal.

Tremblay established a student learning goal that involved implementing the second year of the Understanding by Design (UbD) curriculum initiative.

The evaluation instrument stated Tremblay met the UbD goal.

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.

Hayman said Tremblay received an exemplary rating for the instructional leadership and professional culture standards. He said the superintendent received a proficient rating on the management and operations and family and community engagement standards.

In the management and operations standard, the evaluation instrument commended Tremblay for making social-emotional learning a focal point during the 2017-2018 school year.

The school board also took a look at school safety initiatives Tremblay has helped implement as part of the management and operations standard. The evaluation instrument stated school safety is “an area that needs to continue to evolve as it is under a societal microscope.”

As part of the family and community engagement standard, the evaluation instrument encouraged Tremblay to continue focusing on improving communication.

Reaction

The School Committee commended Tremblay after Hayman gave an overview of the evaluation.

Hayman thanked Tremblay for “all of your hard work this year.”

“I think we sometimes lose sight of celebrating when good things happen,” said Hayman. “I think you can celebrate success without declaring victory because there is always more work to do. This should be a celebration of the successes this year and should be a road map for where we are going in the 2018-2019 school year.”

McQueen said he recently toured the schools with Tremblay.

“I was very impressed across the board,” said McQueen. “(The schools) are happy places to be. The culture in the schools is strong.”

School Committee Vice Chairman Rich Sjoberg said he was impressed with all of the schools after conducting walk-throughs in each school this year. He also noted Tremblay’s evaluation was discussed after he, Hayman and the superintendent attended Lynnfield Middle School’s annual Moving On ceremony.

“As each of the eighth grade children received their certificates, Jane would say ‘I can’t believe how much this child has grown since I saw them leaving elementary school and I can’t wait to see what they look like when they get out of high school,’” said Sjoberg. “And I said to Jane, ‘I hope you are here to see it.’”

Tremblay thanked the School Committee for the kind words and positive evaluation.

“I realize how much time and effort goes into the evaluation,” said Tremblay. “I want to thank you for the trust you instill in me to take care of our children every day and making sure their experiences in Lynnfield Public Schools is the very best it can be. This evaluation is about me, but the work is about everybody. This would never be possible without the incredible, hard working and dedicated educators that we are so fortunate to have in this town. That has been constant in the 32 years I have been here. That never changes.”