Published July 3, 2019
By JILLIAN STRING
NORTH READING — School Committee unanimously voted to appoint Assistant Superintendent Patrick Daly as the next superintendent of North Reading Public Schools (NRPS).
The appointment came at the conclusion of a six hour long public meet and greet and interview process that took place in the Distance Learning Lab at North Reading High School on June 26 with the three finalists: Daly, Dr. Earl Metzler of the Plaistow Public Schools, and Dr. Susan Kustka of the Weymouth Public Schools.
According to School Committee Chairman Scott Buckley, the School Committee wanted to extend the superintendent search to external candidates in order to ensure the best match for the district.
DR. PATRICK DALY
“At the end of the day, we think the superintendent job is a very hard job, and the Search Committee did a really good job of finding candidates and putting them forward, and they were very different candidates,” Buckley said. “Some of (the candidates) were better on paper than they were interviewing tonight, and some of them were better interviewing than they might have been on paper going into it…Dr. Daly was great on paper coming into it, and I thought he nailed the interview tonight.”
Other School Committee members agreed.
“I just think he’s an absolutely stellar candidate. He’s a brilliant mind, and innovator, and I think he’s going to continue to keep us where we are and grow us even further,” committee member Dyana Boutwell said.
Committee Vice Chairman Janene Imbriano stated she was “honored to put Patrick forth” as the new superintendent.
Buckley noted that Daly would be notified of the committee’s decision immediately following the meeting, and he aims to have contract negotiations completed by the School Committee’s July 29 meeting.
Daly will officially begin his appointment following Superintendent Jon Bernard’s retirement in January 2020.
Editor’s note: See related story in today’s Transcript for an overview of the committee’s interviews with the three finalists.
