AMHERST — A revised leadership structure for the Amherst-Pelham school district, known as an executive director model, is being put in place this week as part of an effort to streamline the central office administration.
Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman, who began her tenure a year ago, informed the Regional School Committee at a meeting in late June that she sees the executive director model as one that is collaborative, reflecting the four communities the district serves, and improves on the previous model in which the leadership roles were confined to the superintendent and assistant superintendent.
“It’s not just a reorg, it’s a recommitment to excellence, accountability and each district’s ability to move forward,” Herman said.
Herman said the issues with the previous model included difficulty in both communication and access.
Before putting together the executive director model, Herman examined other districts, including larger schools in the region, such as Holyoke and Springfield, others across the country, and then looked to Saugus, which has student numbers comparable to Amherst, and a similar organizational chart.
“A lot of the districts in Massachusetts and nationwide are moving to distribution of leadership because everything within districts are very hard to hold,” Herman said.
Under this, four executive directors are paid salaries for their main jobs, as well as receiving stipends for the expanded positions that allows flexible management. The assistant superintendent positions has been phased out under the changes.
Those four executive directors are, for operations and finance, Shannon Bernacchia; for strategy and human resources, Jennifer Ortiz; for student academic success, Tonya McIntyre; and for family advocacy and student well being, Marta Guevara.
Herman said this was in place on a temporary basis recently when she was out for a medical situation and a shelter in place occurred at the middle school for a fight between students that also involved parents. At that time, Herman said she was contacted by Ortiz, the executive directors came together and figured out what next steps would be. Members of that team then spoke to principals and worked to rectify the situation.
The principals and directors working together makes the model effective. She is confident she has capable people.
“For me, my team works well and they work hard. and my only expectation is we work for the children and we are committed to do so,” Herman said.
School Committee members appreciated the change.
Amherst representative Jennifer Shiao said it makes a lot of sense and illustrates a pattern of distributing power and not hoarding it. “You’re empowering others and growing leaders,” Shiao said.
Amherst representative Deb Leonard called it a clever solution, though she worried that people would be carrying heavy loads without the assistant superintendent, and may not be able to address issues such as mental health.
“This doesn’t allow another experienced person with those wraparound skills to come into the district,” Leonard said.
Previously, the assistant superintendent was earning around $135,000, with a high workload and limited oversight. The four executive directors will earn around $30,000 in stipends, with shared leadership and shared oversight, Herman said.
But Amherst representative Bridget Hynes said this shouldn’t be seen as savings to the budget
Herman said she will be getting feedback from staff through culture and climate surveys and will be refining the model as she goes along.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
