School Superintendent to Get His First Review

Hamilton-Wenham’s “new” school superintendent, Dr. Raleigh Buchanan, is undergoing his first annual performance review 10 months after .

School Committee Chairman Alexa McCloughan said the members of the nine-member committee have to submit their written reviews to her by Thursday. All of the members received a reminder about the deadline at last week’s School Committee meeting.

McCloughan will then compile the reviews into one review that will be presented publicly when the School Committee gives Buchanan his review on May 5.

This year’s review is happening no earlier than usual, she said, and is typically done at about this time of the year, except last year, she said.

“We didn’t review Dr. (Marinel) McGrath last year because she was leaving,” McCloughan said. McGrath became superintendent in Andover.

The one major change this year, brought about by a change in the state’s Open Meeting Law in July, is that each individual review by each School Committee member will become a public document, she said. In the past, just the consolidated review was public.

The review form includes number ranking on various areas as well as written comments.

Any discussion about a pay raise would be part of a separate discussion after the review, she said. Buchanan is in the first year of a three-year contract.

“We’ve given good reviews of superintendents and not given them pay raises,” she said.

McCloughan said the public review of a school superintendent is an “interesting phenomenon” that is unlike a review for most employees.

“There aren’t a lot of jobs where you have that level of scrutiny,” she said.