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Date: 12/16/2021
SPRINGFIELD – Despite the notable absence of three committee members, the School Committee discussed the evaluation of Superintendent Daniel Warwick during its Dec. 9 special meeting.
The meeting featured exemplary praise for the Warwick’s accomplishments, although some expressed mixed sentiments in the meeting’s aftermath.
Mayor and School Committee Chair Domenic Sarno, Vice Chair Christopher Collins, District 1 School Committee member Maria Perez and District 4 School Committee member Peter Murphy were in attendance to highlight their reflections on the superintendent. The committee initially gathered on Nov. 16 to review the district’s progress before taking a few weeks to create their assessments.
Sarno spoke highly of the superintendent’s efforts, rating him with high marks for his impact on student learning. The mayor credited Warwick’s ability to maneuver the pandemic and its distinct challenges while also recognizing his ability to create state-of-the-art schools, meet or exceed all education goals and provide stable leadership over his nine-year career.
“He’s done an outstanding job in a very tough situation,” said Sarno, who also highlighted the district’s steady decline in dropout rate – from 14 percent to 3 percent - and gradual increase in graduation rate – from 50 percent to 80 percent.
Collins, Perez and Murphy expressed similar praise for Warwick. The vice chair praised the superintendent’s ability to create new avenues across the district. “We’ve done a lot of firsts in this system,” said Collins. He also praised the district for implementing their evaluation at the end of the year compared to the end of the school year period that most communities embrace, with the different process giving the committee a more extensive look at the superintendent’s impact.
“This process has been followed to a tee over the last decade,” said Sarno.
Murphy highlighted Warwick’s ability to continually improve the district in terms of academics and facilities. He revealed that the district has spent $750 million over the last decade alone on school facility improvements. “I think he’s done an outstanding job and I’m very happy with how things have gone,” said Murphy.
In her evaluation, Perez highlighted the numerous statical improvements – such as a sizable 87 percent decrease in student arrest rate – throughout the district. “When you do a good job and you can analyze it from a statistical point of view, what else is there,” asked Perez.
After unanimously approving Warwick’s exemplary evaluation, Sarno discussed a 2 percent pay raise for the superintendent. He believed that the increase was a fair elevation, with teachers also receiving a 2.5 percent increase in their yearly salary.
The committee agreed with the mayor’s suggestion. Murphy highlighted the superintendent’s massive responsibilities as the boss of the state’s third largest employer, while Collins stressed acknowledging the importance of the superintendent’s job. The committee then voted to approve the mayor’s raise recommendation.
Absences
The committee’s decision did not reflect the opinions of At-Large School Committee member Denise Hurst, At-Large School Committee member Latonia Naylor and District 2 School Committee member Barbara Gresham. Hurst issued a joint press release calling for the meeting’s postponement and discussing the trio’s boycott of the working session, with Gresham citing a lack of public viewing opportunities as a central cause.
“Our residents want transparent government. Taxpayers want to know how their money is being utilized and parents and community stakeholders want to know how the leader of their school district is being evaluated. These discussions should not occur during a meeting that no one knows about,” said Gresham in the press release.
In her statement, Naylor highlighted the lack of pre-meeting communication between the mayor and the committee. “We have not received the recommendations of Mayor Sarno in advance. We are set to potentially increase the pay of the highest paid individual in the city. I can’t in good conscious as an elected representative of the people vote on a matter that I have not had an opportunity to thoroughly review and discuss with my constituents,” said Naylor in the press release.
Hurst spoke to Reminder Publishing about her concerns with the superintendent evaluation. “It did not feel right to move forward on giving the highest paid city official a raise without the public having access to that information and being a part of that discussion,” said Hurst.
The committee member also cited issues that were not accurately showcased during the evaluation, including praise centered around the hiring of diverse staff. Hurst revealed that the district did not improve their diversity hiring, with the diversity growth scoring less than 1 percent across the district. She also explained that four of the seven committee members did not share the high impact and exemplary scores that the superintendent ultimately received in the meeting.
Hurst said her goal going forward is for each committee member’s evaluation to be accessible to the public in the near future.