It was the year of the embattled ­superintendent, as top school administrators in Hopkinton, Marlborough, and Wellesley stepped down. The Wellesley system was further unsettled when the departing superintendent, Bella Wong (left), fired its business manager. But perhaps the biggest flap in local leadership came in Newton, where Police Chief Matthew Cummings was fired after he was accused of making boorish comments to three female employees in his department.