Superintendent Evaluation Process Officially Begins

The School Committee has re-convened the process for an official yearly evaluation of Supt. Priya Tahiliani, kicking off the process during a meeting last week.

A yearly superintendent evaluation process is required by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) annually for new superintendents, and bi-annually for established superintendents. However, it was a process like many that was not followed by the book during prior School Department leaderships.

Chair Frank Parker said they began the process last year, but things were put on hold a bit by COVID-19, and different rules that were put in place to evaluate superintendents because of the pandemic. Now, though, the Committee is re-starting the process and have appointed School Committeewoman Dana Murray – who is a teacher in Boston Public Schools – to lead the process.

“We got hand-fed the superintendent evaluation process with the former superintendent and we never evaluated the interim superintendent, and now we’re trying to kick-off this new process with our Supt. Priya Tahiliani,” he said. “We’re looking at the process as to what it will look like and what it is…Supt. Tahiliani set goals, which we accepted in October 2020…The next step is to have each School Committee member evaluate the superintendent to these standards we picked.”

The Superintendent Evaluation Process is highly molded by the DESE and there are set standards listed in their process for superintendents. The goals set by a superintendent and accepted by a School Committee must align with the standards outlined by the state process. Within those goals are indicators that are more specific. The Committee will be evaluating Tahiliani on how she has performed according to the indicators and goals she identified. Parker said they would be looking to get the reports back from members by the end of August, and hoped to have the evaluation all done by the end of September

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