A contract agreement still hasn’t been reached between the All-Island School Committee and Martha’s Vineyard schools Superintendent Richie Smith.
Committee chair Amy Houghton provided a brief update during a Thursday evening meeting, before the committee entered into an executive session to discuss details regarding the superintendent’s contract.
Houghton said a contract proposal had been made and presented to Smith.
“The superintendent has come back with some questions and possible changes,” Houghton said, adding she felt it was important to enter into the executive session for this discussion.
The committee voted 8-1 to enter into an executive session. Committee member Skipper Manter was the sole dissenting vote, who pushed for the contract negotiations to be done in public.
“I think the people in public should see how well we’re working to resolve this contract negotiation,” he said.
Smith was appointed to a two-year contract in 2022 to fill out the remaining term of former Island Superintendent Matt D’Andrea. The contract included a one-year evaluation period. During the evaluation this past November, Smith received high marks from committee members, and a school personnel subcommittee was tasked with working out contract details.
Since the November meeting, school officials have held four executive sessions — including on Thursday — “to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with nonunion personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with nonunion personnel.” November and December meeting agendas for the subcommittee also listed “superintendent’s contract renewal” and “superintendent’s goals” as items after the executive session.
Administrative assistant to the superintendent Ellie Parece said that Smith’s current contract ends on June 30.
The contract is a personal one and is none of anyone’s business in the general public. The All Island School committee is the superintendents boss and they hold him accountable, determine performance standards and hold annual appraisals of his performance and conduct. Contract negotiations are not to be done in public.
We the people are the All Island School School Committee’s boss.
We the people will decide how we want to hold the Superintendent accountable, determine their performance standards, appraise their performance and conduct.
Some people, who have spent their life in the private sector, find this to be unacceptable.
The All Island School Committee is employed at the pleasure we the people.
“Contract negotiations are not to be done in public.”, Engelman is the decider.
As a parent I wouldn’t mind if the school committee moves on and finds a new superintendent.
Dr. Smith has decades of experience and institutional knowledge of exactly how our unique school district works. It is not merely complicated; it is complex, chaotic and in a constant state of flux.
Your off the cuff “move on” is exactly the type of terrible advice that, if followed, would sow the seeds of a lost decade for the islands student population. We are at an inflection point on our island and his leadership is critical to moving into the current generation of students an education that means something. In any other district of comparable size, a Superintendent would have 1/6th of the meetings, far fewer challenges to overcome, and a hell of a lot of support staff. Oh yeah, and he’d make quite a bit more money too.
But hey, when you’re so early in the Dunning-Kruger scale that you can’t see the upswing, I guess you can be pardoned for offering such a poorly thought out take? Read a book or something.
Public School.
Everything else to do with the Island school system seems to be dysfunctional, so it is of no surprise that they cannot reach an agreement over the superintendence contract. It’s a new year and hopefully we can get some new thinking and a fresh start for the future of the kids. The current group always seems to talk about it’s for the children, but in the end, it seems to be more about themselves.
Dysfunctional?
The schools are an accurate reflection the Island.