The Wellesley School Committee at its Sept. 23 meeting voted 3-2 in favor of approving a 2-year-contract extension for Supt. David Lussier (see Wellesley Media recording 1 hour, 36 minutes in).
The result mirrored that from June, when the committee voted 3-2 to enter negotiations. Members Niki Ofenloch, Linda Chow, and Illana Nissenbaum voted to approve, while Dr. Costas Panagopoulos (chair of the subcommittee to negotiate the new contract) and Bob Sullivan voted against.
The deal, going through June of 2029, features an annual salary of $311k+, with cost-of-living adjustments. Lussier was hired by Wellesley Public Schools in 2012, and is finishing a four-year contract extension in June 2027.
Lussier’s supporters say he and his team have continued to lead a high-performing district that has undertaken new initiatives despite tight funding. Detractors from the parent and educator community have raised concerns about school rankings, families shifting to private schools, and various staff issues, among other things.
While the contract agenda item only took about five minutes, following weeks of discussions in public and behind closed doors, the School Committee spent about 50 minutes on the subject of bringing air conditioning to three elementary schools and the middle school.
The School Committee came into its meeting looking to possibly nail down motion language to bring to Special Town Meeting this fall to request design funds for what would be a multimillion dollar AC project. AC proponents say the schools need to be cooler in hot weather for students and staff to thrive.
This discussion followed efforts by various parties in town to explore ways to deliver AC sooner than later, with members of the town’s Facilities Management Department and Permanent Building Committee (PBC) putting their heads together on this in recent weeks in response to community feedback. While on the surface adding AC units to schools might seem straightforward (this has repeatedly been described as mainly an electrical project), such is not the case when dealing with old buildings, town government contract rules, and traditional timelines for seeking feasibility, design, and construction funds.
The PBC’s Michael Tauer reminded listeners that the town body he chairs essentially builds the structures that Town Meetings tells it to. He shared an update on a possible approach to bring AC to Bates and Fiske Elementary School next summer, followed by AC at Schofield Elementary School and the Middle School in 2028, with a request for construction funding for the first two schools coming at Annual Town Meeting in the spring. Splitting the project in two is projected to add $240k to the design study cost, and Tauer cautioned that issues could still crop up, such as supply chain delays, that would mess with the completion date.
One issue with the possible bifurcated project approach for School Committee member Nissenbaum is equity. That is, two schools would get AC ahead of the other two. Whereas others said that would be a better scenario than all four schools having to wait a couple of years. Under the scenario put forth at the School Committee meeting, the idea would be to seek Town Meeting approval for design funding likely via free cash, whereas funding for the other two schools would likely require a debt exclusion (short-term property tax hike) for funding that would be put to a town-wide vote. Chair Ofenloch said she was struggling with weighing the risks, such as possible change orders adding up, vs. the benefits of an accelerated plan.
The committee agreed by a 4-1 vote to go forward with a request to Special Town Meeting to fund design for all four school projects, and also accelerated design funds of $240k for Bates and Fiske. Plans are to run this all through town counsel for review.
Declining enrollments, losing students to private schools, declining rankings of WPS compared to schools in the area are all concerning issues that have been coming up every year at Town Meeting when funding for schools come up. I applaud the school Committee members who voted for potential change. Too much of the negotiation’s are held out of public eye. I hope this will encourage a robust dialogue instead of a rubber stamp.
During the 9/23 School Committee meeting, it was divulged that Dr. David Lussier had requested a 4-year contract. It is good news for the community that he only received a 2-year contract. Neither the community nor the teachers/staff were formally surveyed for feedback about Dr. Lussier’s performance prior to his June performance evaluation or prior to the vote on this contract extension. It is unacceptable. Unlike the majority of public school districts, Wellesley has a Senior Administrator-level Community Engagement Coordinator position; in this person’s 2025/26 goals from last year, a community survey was supposed to have been completed and yet it was not. Our community should be questioning why. By comparison, right next door in Weston they conducted a survey prior to the Weston School Committee evaluation of the Superintendent and also publicly released each School Committee member’s individual evaluation of the Superintendent. Interestingly, Weston does not have a Community Engagement Coordinator position. Wellesley residents should continue to engage and ask questions about the use of poorly rated curriculum, the historical lack of measurable goal setting and comprehensive K-12 curriculum reviews, the under use of data analyses to drive strategic decision making and course correction, the failure to close achievement gaps, etc…..despite the relentless thwarting of such engagement by WPS Administration and select members of the School Committee.