School Committee to discuss applicants for temporary superintendent job

By Megan McKee, Town Correspondent

The Waltham School Committee will meet Monday to discuss applicants for the job of temporary assistant superintendent who will perform all of the duties that Superintendent Peter Azar gave up when he announced his immediate resignation at an Aug. 11 committee meeting.

A school district secretary said Friday that the job was posted Wednesday and applicants had until noon Friday to apply. She did not provide the names of applicants or say how many there are, but the names will be made public Monday at the meeting, which is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in the James J. Cannon lecture hall at Waltham High School.

Most committee members were hopeful that through the job posting and tapping the resources of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, a candidate will be found not long after school starts.

“We’re in this somewhat unique position where we have a superintendent in absentia,” said School Committee member Susan Burstein.

Azar, who has been superintendent since 2008, handed out a letter at the Aug. 11 School Committee meeting that stated he was resigning effective immediately.

But Mayor Jeannette McCarthy, who is also chair of the School Committee, said it was clear from Azar’s contract that he is bound to give 120 days notice of his resignation. Until the contract is changed by both Azar and the School Committee, both parties are bound to its conditions, she said.

As a result, Azar is still effectively the superintendent and the School Committee cannot replace him until the contract is changed, she said.

Two lawyers were at Tuesday’s School Committee meeting.

To bypass the contract, School Committee members voted to hire a temporary Assistant Superintendent of Administration to serve up to a year while the contract is sorted out with Azar and a full search process is undertaken to find a new superintendent.

Committee members will expect that temporary assistant superintendent to be a seasoned administrator who can perform all of the functions of a superintendent, said McCarthy.

The committee also unanimously agreed to send a letter as soon as possible to Azar acknowledging his "physical abandonment of his job" and the fact that the committee cannot act on the intent of his resignation letter until his contract is changed.

The School Committee approved the contract of Paul Maiorano to be Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Development. This is Maiorano’s first administrative job; prior to accepting the position, he was Framingham High School’s head of the Math Department.

Burstein said it’s crucial to get someone with more experience than Maiorano in a top administrative roll because “it isn’t fair to do this to [Maiorano].”

His first day is Wednesday.

After signing the contract with Maiorano, the city was also able to tackle another dilemma: the vacant principal position at the Fitzgerald Elementary School.

The search committee already went through two unsuccessful hiring rounds—the first round yielded no candidates suitable to the search committee and the only candidate yielded from the second round turned down the job.

Maiorano now has the authority to appoint an interim principal; if he hadn’t signed the contract, the school would have remained without a principal until a third search round is completed.

Burstein acknowledged that the current uncertainty swirling around administrative jobs in the School Department is disconcerting and difficult. She assured residents that the School Committee is doing everything it can to mitigate the situation so teachers and students don’t feel its effects.

“As much as we may be struggling with this,” said Burstein, “we’ll get through this, and we’ll be better for this.”

Megan McKee can be reached at megan.mckee@gmail.com