Superintendent Gets Passing Grade From Andover School Committee

ANDOVER, MA -- Four out of five Andover School Committee members said Superintendent Sheldon Berman either met or exceeded goals set for professional practice, student learning and district improvement during the 2017-18 academic year. And all five members rated Berman either "proficient" or "excellent" in their assessment of his performance on instructional leadership, management and operations, family and community engagement and professional culture.

"I believe that Shelley’s leadership style, energy and experience have brought strong results to Andover. I hope he feels proud of his accomplishments and those of his team," Paul Murphy wrote in his evaluation of Berman. "In the coming year, I hope and expect that we will work to avoid situations that hurt the progress being made."

Those "situations" -- including the public release of a draft of a confidential memo about boys volleyball coach E.J. Perry and claims that the school committee was curbing free speech at its meetings -- prompted a group of parents to petition for Berman's resignation or firing. Despite the criticism, all five members gave Berman a rating of "proficient" in their individual, written evaluations.

Tracey Spruce, the newest member of the school committee, was the only member to say Berman had made "significant progress" rather than meeting or exceeding the goals that had been set. And like most of the other members, Spruce made mention of the missteps Berman had made during the year.

"These distractions have the effect of undermining the community’s (and, at times, my own) confidence in Dr. Berman, which is truly unfortunate in light of the overwhelmingly positive impact his work has on the district and on our students," Spruce wrote in her evaluation. "I expect that Dr. Berman takes seriously the Committee’s feedback in this area, and that there will be no further distractions caused by similar communication problems."

Read each School Committee member's evaluation of Superintendent Berman:

• Joel Blumstein: "Dr. Berman’s educational leadership continues to be outstanding. He and his team have taken on an ambitious agenda through the agile strategic plan and its focus on advancing student learning...Unfortunately, this year also has been marked by some significant errors on Dr. Berman’s part that have distracted the School Committee’s attention from the important work we face and, perhaps more importantly, have resulted in many people in the community focusing on these episodes rather than on the many accomplishments of the district."
• Susan McCready: "Dr. Berman’s ability to lead considerable work on a variety of fronts while managing the day to day is a testament to his dedication and commitment to Andover being a highly performing district for all children. Both the accolades and criticisms that he receives, I believe, are indicative of a Superintendent continually working toward meaningful, effective, and at times major cultural change."
• Paul Murphy: "I believe that Andover is a strong district and one in which our students can thrive. Shelley has provided strong leadership as its superintendent and the trickle down effect of his leadership has moved the needle on many areas of student learning."
• Shannon Scully: "Expectations are high of a Superintendent with Dr. Berman’s experience, and the six goals set for Dr. Berman’s FY18 work were bold. His ability to lead improvements to district programs, operations, and direction met these lofty expectations, which exceeded what could be reasonably asked of a less seasoned professional...Communications and financial analysis remain areas of concern. There were two instances this year where actions by Dr. Berman became significant distractions, and took away from widespread recognition of the District’s progress."
• Tracey Spruce: "I joined the School Committee on March 28, 2018 so I do not feel fully qualified just yet to evaluate the entire year’s performance...Based on my understanding of what he was expected to achieve this year, he was able to make significant progress in every sprint and achieved most, if not all, of the expected goals. I have been especially impressed with the level of commitment, passion and hard work that the individual staff members on the sprints bring to their work. I believe that Dr. Berman plays a major role in driving that commitment, hard work and passion and that it would not be happening without his exemplary leadership."

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Patch file photo of Sheldon Berman.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).