What Kinds Of Cars Can The Andover Superintendent Lease?

ANDOVER, MA -- The Andover School Committee unanimously approved a 2% raise for Superintendent Sheldon Berman last week as part of his four-year contract that expires in 2020. That contract includes a $500 per month for a motor vehicle. Patch did some research to figure what kind of ride you can lease for around $500 per month.

Among the top choices for vehicles available to lease for $500 a month, according to Lease Trader:

• 2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio Ti
• 2017 BMW X3 xDrive28i
• 2017 BMW 430 i Gran Coupe
• 2016 Lexus IS 300
• 2017 Lexus ES 300 Hybrid

The 2% raise for Berman amounts to $4,466 and raises his annual salary to $227,766. His contract also includes a $22,000 contribution to his retirement plan. Berman's contract can be read online.

The raise did not come without a tepid rebuke from some school committee members. Last week Patch reported on the written evaluations committee members wrote about Berman. During the 2017-18 school year, the school system was hit with bouts of bad publicity, 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.

In their written evaluations, school committee members acknowledged those problems. But four out of five members said 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.

"This has been a pretty though year for me...I don't like some of the divisiveness that has emerged from some of the things that have happened," Berman said at the meeting where his raise was approved. "There is always room for improvement."

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Patch file photo.

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