Will he stay or will he go? Committee to review superintendent contract

Other than deciding the school district’s annual budget, the School Committee’s most important responsibility is the hiring and firing of the school district superintendent. For the past two years, no issue has divided the School Committee more.

Superintendent Thomas D. Fowler-Finn, who has led the district since 2003, is highly-regarded for his skills as an educator. His allies, notably School Committee member Nancy K. Walser, point to improvements in standardized test scores during his tenure, particularly the 20-point increase in English and 19-point jump in Math at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School from 2005 to 2006.

But despite his achievements, Fowler-Finn has never received high marks for working well with others. Committee members accuse him of being autocratic and arrogant, with Luc D. Schuster criticizing him for being an “uninspiring leader” with a management style similar to former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers.

And while the schools have made progress during his administration, Committee member Patricia M. Nolan ’80 in particular has argued that the improvements are too small given Cambridge’s extraordinarily high per pupil expenditures (about $23,300 per student).

In August 2006, the School Committee debated whether to extend Fowler-Finn’s contract or to let it expire, in which case he would have left office in August 2007.

The committee granted Fowler-Finn a one-year extension on his contract—through the summer of 2008—by a four-to-three vote. It will have to decide again on the superintendent’s contract in February, shortly after assuming office.

During the debate last summer, Walser, Schuster, and veteran members Alfred B. Fantini and Joseph G. Grassi supported an extension of the contract. Nolan, Richard Harding, and Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves ‘71 voted against. (The mayor, chosen by the city council from among its ranks, chairs the School Committee.)

What happens at the polls this November could ultimately determine Fowler-Finn’s fate.

Walser, Fowler-Finn’s staunchest ally, is retiring at the end of her term, and some say former School Committee member Marc C. McGovern, who spoke out against renewing Fowler-Finn’s contract in 2006, could win her seat. The other candidates—Nancy Tauber, Gail Lemily Wiggins, and Stephan Malner—are backed by Walser, and are likely to support the superintendent.

If all the incumbents and McGovern win, and no one changes his or her mind, that would leave a three to three split between those who supported the superintendent and those who opposed him. So ironically, it might be the mayor—chosen from among the city councillors—and not a School Committee member who ultimately determines whether Fowler-Finn stays or goes.