School Superintendent To Depart in 2009

After almost two years of debate regarding his contract extension, the Cambridge School Committee voted Tuesday night to replace Superintendent Thomas D. Fowler-Finn—who has been at the helm of the district for five years—by next July.

The offer of a one-year contract came from Fowler-Finn and was then accepted by the committee, according to a press release issued by the school committee.

“We were able to reach an agreement that works both for me personally and for the district, as this will allow a smooth transition to a new leader,” Fowler-Finn said in the statement.

The school committee allowed for the superintendent’s contract to be extended in a four-to-three vote in January, and school committee member Marc C. McGovern said that Tuesday’s extension of only one year was not forced on Fowler-Finn.

“This is something that was mutually agreed upon, it was not terms that were dictated to him,” he said.

When Fowler-Finn’s term ends in 2009, the school committee aims to have a new superintendent ready to take the helm.

“What’s nice about having [the superintendent] for another year and a half is that we have some time to really do this the right way,” said McGovern, who voted against a contract extension for the superintendent in January and opposed its first renewal in August 2006.

Community support for the committee’s decision was divided.

Former school committee member Nancy Walser, who has long been a supporter of Fowler-Finn, said the decision to replace him after a year was a “disappointment.”

“Under strong leadership, the district has made really great strides across the board, and these improvements have been acknowledged by the state,” Walser said. “It’s difficult to find a good superintendent for a complicated urban district.”

Cambridge resident Peter Schweich, however, said he felt the decision was “extremely good.”

“It’s good that they didn’t fire him and bring in an acting superintendent—that would have put the school in flux for a year,” he said. “This is a great opportunity to find a flexible and talented school administrator who believes in listening to his administration.”

Fowler-Finn has been praised for increasing the level of passing MCAS scores in the five years since he took over as superintendent. On the 2007 MCAS exam, 91 percent of students passed the English Language Arts (ELA) exam, compared with 79 percent in 2003; 90 percent passed the Mathematics exam, compared with 69 percent in 2003.

Despite the improvements, some have criticized Fowler-Finn for a “heavy-handed” administrative approach.

Cambridge Mayor E. Denise Simmons released a statement yesterday saying that “the next immediate focus is developing updated goals for our district, which will inform our search for a new superintendent.” She noted that upcoming “town meetings on educational topics” can serve as a forum to discuss important issues for the district, including selection criteria for the next superintendent.

But Walser said she was too disappointed to discuss ideas for the upcoming search.

“I can’t even think about that at this point,” she said.

——Staff Writer Vidya B. Viswanathan can be reached at viswanat@fas.harvard.edu.