Heated Marblehead School Committee Meeting Transitions Toward New Superintendent Search

MARBLEHEAD, MA — The first open public meeting since the Marblehead School Committee and former Superintendent John Buckey reached a separation agreement on his resignation drew an hour of harsh public criticism toward the process that led to Buckey's ouster as well as pushback on the vitriol and division that the month-long saga conjured within the town.

Friday's noontime meeting included former School Committee Chair Sarah Gold, who lost her re-election bid in June, calling on the entire committee to resign, current School Committee member Meaghan Taylor expressing that she is "profoundly disappointed" with how the Committee handled the process, and current School Committee Chair Sarah Fox calling the public discourse — especially that on Facebook — one that if high school students were speaking that way would have parents "taking our kids' phones away right and left."

The School Committee will now look toward finding a new superintendent, as Michelle Cresta begins the new school year as acting superintendent, starting with a Friday morning meeting with the agenda item: "Presentation and Information Session on Superintendent Search."

The "early termination" saga involving the School Committee and Buckey came to an apparent conclusion on Aug. 2 with what the School Committee called "an acceptable agreement resulting in his resignation" after several days of negotiation.

But the wounds and costs from the process may linger much longer with those making public comments on Friday criticizing the committee for its lack of transparency on the reason behind what most perceived as a forced resignation, and speculation on the motivations behind the decision to move on from Buckey mid-contract after three years and at an estimated cost of nearly $200,000 in the separation agreement and legal fees.

"It is not that I don't want to give you more information because, quite frankly, if I could answer every question in the last month that I've been asked I think that would have toned the vitriol down a bit," Fox said.

She added that the advice of town counsel was that committee members be limited in what they say about the situation. But Meaghan Taylor did volunteer that she believes the committee failed in its handling of Buckey's most recent evaluation and eventual departure.

"At this point, we have no choice but to accept his resignation," said Taylor, the only committee member who voted against the separation agreement ratified in a 3-1 vote. "I am just so profoundly disappointed that this is where we're at. As a committee, we did not effectively manage the superintendent. If there were concerns about his performance or actions we, as committee members, should have raised them and discussed them as a committee, and come up with action plans on how to address them.

"We should be spending any additional money on student-facing initiatives and student advancement. This is not a good use of our funding. It has completely distracted our community ... and caused instability across the entire district."

Gold was even more pointed in her comments, calling the current committee's actions "cowardly" and intentionally covert.

"This committee has found a way to keep information out of the public for the past two months," she said.

Gold requested that the "entire committee step down and allow more people to come into the district so the district can heal" or, in the event that the call is not heeded, hold a public forum after the start of the new school year to discuss the committee's "behavior" and the true cost of Buckey's ouster.

Fox countered during a committee discussion on the separation agreement that the rules involved with executive session — which is closed to the public and where most of the discussion on Buckey's situation was held throughout the process — are "there for a reason and we must adhere to them."

"This has not been easy for anybody," she said. "This has not been easy for any of us, for people who read about this. This has not been easy for Dr. Buckey.

"It's not been easy for students whose information was put on the internet."

Fox also read a statement from Cresta to staff ahead of the school year.

"It is not lost on me that this change is not easy," she said. "Change is never easy. However, it is important that we keep the focus on our mission, goals and jobs.

"We are in this together."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)