Espindle’s Review really indicator of Contract Renewal

Well, yesterday on WCAP we had Lowell Sun editor Jim Campanini who discussed with us (on and off air) the issue of the Dracut School Committee’s delay in finishing this annual review. (I’ll try to capture some of that interview later as a podcast)

In this morning’s political column, he summarizes what the paper sees as the situation:

THE CALL went out last summer.

Dracut School Committee member Joseph Campbell said he completed Superintendent of Schools Elaine Espindle’s annual evaluation by early fall.

Committee Chairman Ron Mercier Jr. said he was asking for the evaluations all along and had received all but Campbell’s. Campbell said he wasn’t aware that Mercier was waiting and as a member of the evaluation subcommittee, he was waiting for other members to submit them to him.

By late February, all the evaluations were together and in one place. All that remained was for Campbell and Mercier to sit down together, put the scores and comments together, and draft a composite to present to Espindle.

That didn’t get done until last Monday night, an hour before a regularly scheduled meeting was about to begin, leaving no time to go over the evaluation with the superintendent, who is in the last 18 months of her six-year contract.

Now, because of scheduling conflicts, Espindle, as well as the general public, will have to wait until sometime this month to find out something that should have been made public in 2006.

Espindle’s evaluation is seen as a harbinger of things to come. Her overall grade has consistently slipped over the years, from an 8.2 in 2003 to a 7.6 in 2006. Coincidentally, her lowest marks routinely point to her relationship with the committee.

During discussion with him, it is clear that he sees Espindle as a very good Superintendent, and he minimizes the communication, morale and image problems that have shadowed her career here in Dracut.

She has tried to improve the situation, but the fact is that are people are people. Once bitten, twice shy.

This review will of course be seen by the electorate as an indicator towards the current committee’s intention towards renewing her contract.

And the fact is, there is a difference between deciding to keep her on, and exactly what the terms of a new contract will be. Those are two separate issues, and the first must be decided before the second can be discussed.