Greer is voted in as permanent superintendent
Victoria Greer, now district superintendent, at The Haggerty School on Sept. 9. (Photo: Marc Levy)
Victoria Greer was approved as permanent schools superintendent retroactive to Jan. 1 on Wednesday.
School Committee members voted unanimously to approve an addendum to the district’s interim contract with Greer. They then voted unanimously to make the change ineligible for further debate.
Greer’s contact is now extended to June 2023, and both parties have the option to notify each other in writing on or before June 30 whether they want to extend the agreement further.
Greer became interim superintendent in July after former superintendent Kenneth Salim, who began his tenure in July 2016, stepped down.
Before the vote in the shortest School Committee meeting in recent memory, there were several speakers during a public comment period.
“We strongly encourage the School Committee to swiftly act to bring stability in leadership at the helm of the Cambridge Public School system. Immediate appointment will enhance the positive futuristic outlook for the children and the young people of the city,” said the Rev. Lorraine Thornhill, president of the Cambridge Black Pastors Alliance. She highlighted Greer’s “stellar credentials, strong leadership capabilities, award-winning experience and school-based integrity and character.”
Former School Committee member Richard Harding said making Greer’s position permanent was a good sign of equity and a step forward “in our quest to be an antiracist community.” He believed Greer would be the first woman of color to lead the school district on a permanent basis.
“We have gotten a real gem in the person of Dr. Greer,” former Cambridge mayor Ken Reeves said. The committee’s move was made with “great wisdom” and saved money and time while “getting someone who could hit the ground running and do a very real assessment, in real time, of where we are.”
Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui noted that the committee met in closed-door sessions on Nov. 9, Nov. 16, Dec. 7, Dec. 17 and Dec. 21 before reaching an agreement in late December to amend the contract for Greer.
The committee had scheduled a meeting on Greer’s contract before the new year. It was rescheduled because case law “pointed to a likelihood that if we did take a vote in December, we would have to redo the vote in January” with the new committee, Siddiqui said.
Kids still staring at walls, isolated, and unable to speak during lunch while adults do whatever they want? That is incredible leadership.
It would go a LONG way with the families/children that still remain in CPS to end the mask mandates. More and more families are leaving and planning to leave at end of this year.
Please provide some true leadership rather than waiting for the state to force the issue.
She seems fine, not amazing, but I do remember the teachers really did not care for her, and parents not thrilled when she was interviewed as interim. I do wish she at least sent her kids to CPS, but I hope the serves the rest of the cambridge kids well. I have a feeling many families wont stick around though.
Dr. Greer has done an amazing job communicating clearly with families and I’m happy she’s sticking around for a while.
Since it always seems to be the same [tiny] cohort railing against mask and vaccine mandates [who also don’t actually have kids in the district], let me say that I fully support how the district has handled masking and the people complaining about its implementation don’t seem know what they’re talking about.
By MA DESE rules, Cambridge has the option to rescind the mandate if the vaccination rate gets above 80% but we haven’t hit that yet in most age groups.
You want the mandate lifted? Vax your kids!
She-CPS has hired so many Administrators that she doesn’t have to do anything but repeat the reports she gets.