Marini to earn $215,000 as interim superintendent

By Calvin Hennick, Globe Correspondent

V. James Marini, a former Newton associate superintendent and high school principal, will make $215,000 as the district’s interim superintendent next year.

School Committee members voted 8 to 0 this morning, with Mayor David Cohen absent, to approved the contract, which also gives Marini $4,500 in transportation allowance.

Marini will also receive vacation time and sick leave, as well as dental care, but he won’t receive health insurance.

The contract runs from Wednesday – July 1 – to June 30 of next year.

The pay is the same as outgoing superintendent Jeffrey Young will earn next year as head of the Cambridge Public Schools. Young earned $248,000 last year in Newton.

School Committee chairman Marc Laredo said Marini’s experience justified the salary, and noted that not paying for Marini’s health insurance would save the district around $12,000 a year.

“I think you have to put in context,” Laredo said. “It’s not just an interim superintendent in the system being promoted for a year. This is hiring an experienced superintendent who served in one community for a number of years, and then served as an interim superintendent for two years.”

Marini, who is officially retired, is finishing up a two-year stint as interim superintendent in North Andover, where he earned $180,000 this year. Before that, he served as superintendent of Winchester Public Schools.

Marini started his career as a middle-school teacher in Newton in 1970, going on to serve as a middle-school assistant principal, principal of Newton North High School, assistant superintendent for high schools and operations, and associate superintendent for secondary education.

He also worked as a middle-school administrator in Concord for five years.

Young leaves next Thursday to take the helm of Cambridge Public Schools.

School committee members expect to appoint a permanent replacement early next year and are in the process of appointing a search committee.