WILMINGTON, MA — The Wilmington School Committee definitely liked what it saw from Superintendent Mary DeLai during her first year on the job.
Each School Committee member evaluated DeLai back in June. A subcommittee, led by School Committee member Julie Broussard, then met over the summer to summarize the seven evaluations and create one comprehensive evaluation. That document, finalized on August 26, was unanimously approved and made public at the committee’s meeting earlier this week.
DeLai received an overall rating of “Proficient,” defined as “fully satisfactory.” All of DeLai’s 38 grades, in fact, were positive, never receiving a “needs improvement” or “unsatisfactory,” while even attaining a couple of “exemplary” rankings.
Below are comments shared by Wilmington School Committee members in the evaluation. Not surprisingly, all are positive:
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“The rating of ‘proficient’ seems hardly adequate, given that this is Superintendent DeLai’s first year on the job, and that many of the goals will require more than a single academic year to accomplish. Superintendent DeLai has stepped into the role with the abilities and composure of a veteran school superintendent. She quickly identified problem areas and has made significant progress in improving Wilmington Public Schools.”
“Wilmington is fortunate to have Mary DeLai at the helm. She was hired without any previous experience as a School Superintendent, but has stepped into the role with tremendous success, in the face of many trying circumstances. Superintendent DeLai navigated through many challenges with the utmost professionalism and integrity; to the level of which is not often seen in a first year superintendent. She easily took over and led the charge to open our new high school on time.”
“Through her entry plan, Superintendent DeLai engaged the entire Wilmington community and quickly earned respect and trust. The resulting document provided focus and established priorities. Her dedication and commitment to our students and staff is evident by her involvement in both school and community events, allowing her to continue to be on the forefront in assessing the results of her initiatives. Her strengths include identifying issues and making plans to work on them. She has fostered a progression in team building throughout the District, which will be key in the success of those initiatives that are still in progress.”
“Mary is a thoughtful decision maker with a strong moral compass. She shows a willingness to make the tough decisions, while always doing what is in the best interest of the children of Wilmington.”
“… Superintendent DeLai has exhibited great leadership skills and initiative in her first year at Wilmington Public Schools. We are very pleased with her accomplishments of the past year, including navigating significant and unexpected challenges, opening a new high school, meeting the demands of the New Superintendent Inductee Program, as well as, learning and executing the day-to-day operations of a school district. We look forward to continuing to see her grow, both personally and professionally, in her position of Superintendent of Wilmington Public Schools.”
“Superintendent DeLai is a detailed-oriented, extremely organized and a thoughtful decision maker. She has a thorough understanding of state and federal laws and mandates that have to do with public education. As an example, she enforced the law for all student-led fundraisers by requiring that they get a permit for this practice. She quickly made herself an expert of Wilmington School Committee policies. She applies her strong moral compass to make the “hard” decisions when necessary. Her ability to engender a positive workplace, to manage and mentor her administrators and faculty is commendable, to say the least.”
“Superintendent DeLai quickly established herself as a respected, trusted, and valued member of the Wilmington community. She is highly visible in our buildings and our students know her by name. Superintendent DeLai has reached out to many organizations in the community, including Rotary and Boosters. She can be frequently seen at school and community events.”
“To her credit, Mary not only fulfilled her requirements for the basic job as Superintendent, but she finished all the necessary work to open a new high school, on time, on February 24, 2015. She spent many weekend days at the Roman House to finish all that was asked of her.”
“Superintendent DeLai has made great effort in reaching out and meeting a diversity of stakeholders to better understand the families in our community and their concerns.”
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DeLai took the opportunity to praise her leadership team.
“The ability for a superintendent to do their job, especially as a new superintendent, requires some pretty key ingredients. One of which is a strong and supportive leadership team at the district level and the school building level,” DeLai said. “I’m very fortunate to have a very skilled and supportive group of leaders in Wilmington.”
DeLai also thanked the School Committee for their support.
“And the second ingredient [that allows a Superintendent to do their job] is a supportive School Committee,” DeLai remarked. “Your support is not lost on me; I know how important is. And thank you for this very nice evaluation. If my mom’s watching this, she’s probably tearing up”
There was one issue, however, that troubled School Committee member Steve Bjork about DeLai’s tenure.
“Since we’ve hired Ms. DeLai, we had the snowiest winter on record and now the hottest school opening, and I think that should be considered next year,” joked Bjork.
Watch the latest Wilmington School Committee meeting, courtesy of Wilmington Community Television, below. Discussion on the evaluation begins right before the 40:00 mark and lasts about ten minutes.
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