Interim superintendent David Murphy got an overall “proficient” evaluation with some “exemplary” aspects at a special June 24 meeting of Cambridge’s School Committee, with many members vouching for Murphy and some criticism of the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education over the standards for evaluation.
Murphy was promoted from chief operating officer to serve as interim superintendent July 1 after the committee terminated the contract of former superintendent Victoria Greer. The presumption at first was that his term would last anywhere from 90 days to a year, but that was extended quickly to a longer-term role while the committee searches for a permanent district leader, a selection that must be made before November elections. Murphy is a candidate.
Greer was an interim superintendent too, for six months starting July 1, 2021. She got an assessment at the end of October, after which she was named permanent superintendent starting in 2022. In comparing Greer’s only evaluation as an interim superintendent with Murphy’s, Greer met expectations in every category that was ranked – she was proficient – but was never assessed as having exceeded expectations.
By comparison, Murphy exceeded committee members’ expectations in two categories and was tied in another two between proficient and exemplary. In the committee’s combined evaluation, vice chair Caroline Hunter summed that up as Murphy being overall “proficient with some areas of exemplary progress.”
https://embed.documentcloud.org/documents/25986908-250701-evaluation-greer/?embed=1
“The School Committee appreciates David Murphy’s acceptance of the role of interim superintendent at a time of uncertainty for the leadership of the Cambridge Public Schools. As interim superintendent, Murphy set ambitious goals and has made progress on the majority of them,” Hunter read from the evaluation document. “The School Committee made significant note of improvement in the responsiveness, transparency and communication to all constituents, caregivers, staff the public and the committee.”
“Improved communication with constituents resulted in fewer complaints about lack of [responsiveness], increased trust and engagement with the district superintendent’s rating for standard for professional culture,” Hunter said.
https://embed.documentcloud.org/documents/25986909-250701-evaluation-murphy/?embed=1
There were other areas where Murphy excelled, including reorganization “of the central administration leadership team, data-driven decisions to place more students in positions of success, the budget process that is focused on increasing input from all constituencies, increased focus on teacher evaluation and successful assignment of K-Lo students.”
Murphy was “proficient” on professional practice, student learning and district improvement as well as on instructional leadership, family and community engagement. He was tied between proficient and exemplary in the professional culture category.
Committee member comments
Though Murphy’s rating was a composite of committee member scores, the members commented as individuals.
Jose Luis Rojas Villarreal thanked Murphy for taking on his role with “excitement” and “humility” and said there were areas where the composite didn’t reward him enough. He thought Murphy deserved an “exemplary” rating on response to newcomer students during a ‘turbulent time,” specifically noting concerns around federal immigration actions.
Members David Weinstein and Elizabeth Hudson also thanked Murphy and commended his work. “He, as I see it, did not kick the can down the road” on issues as some other interim leaders might, Weinstein said.
Hudson said Murphy had “shown exceptional leadership grounded in clarity, courage and deep operational command.” Closing the Kennedy-Longellow School in East Cambridge, where high-needs students had accumulated inequitably over time, was “painful but necessary,” she said.
Member Richard Harding agreed, and praised Murphy’s communication abilities and honesty. The interim nature of the role limited how much change Murphy could enact, but Harding commended him for how “effective” he’s been in a short time.
The state metrics used to evaluate the superintendent came in for some criticism.
“We have a person who is unafraid to accept the facts and acknowledge them, and I think that’s the first piece that any leader has to have,” he said. “The DESE rubric does in some ways lock us into some particular metrics that I don’t know matter from the Cambridge perspective … we may have the opportunity to, in this next phase, decide how we want to evaluate our next superintendent that could use some of the DESE metrics but also add some other metrics that we think might be more appropriate.”
Labor leader’s assessment
Dan Monahan of the Cambridge Educators Association, the city’s teacher’s union, was the sole participant in public comment at the meeting and had a different take on how the committee handled state metrics – that the committee had “failed” to evaluate Murphy to them. “There should be both staff and caregiver input into the process. Having one public meeting is woefully inadequate,” Monahan said. “This kind of improper evaluation has been rampant in Cambridge Public Schools for many years, and the CEA has filed and won numerous grievances in similar circumstances as the leadership body for the district.”
“If you expect the district to be evaluating staff professionally, then at the very least you should do it properly for the one administrator you are responsible for evaluating,” Murphy said.
In Monahan’s own estimate, Murphy has had to make “some hard decisions” this academic year, including the closing of the K-Lo, but it was “the right thing to do at the time.”
Monahan had criticisms too: “The superintendent relies too heavily on central administration and principal information. This makes sense for efficiency, but when there’s a significant misalignment between that perspective and the educator perspective, I believe the superintendent has not weighed the educator perspective adequately.”
Administrators need more support, Monahan said, and there is a “misalignment” between educators and administrators.
Murphy responds
Murphy reiterated his commitment to fostering a culture of communication and to prioritize students and credited his team for much of the good work named by the committee as belonging to him.
“I am directly responsible for probably much less of what you have cited here this evening. And I want to acknowledge that and acknowledge the people particularly within our schools – our principals – who are doing the actual work to try to move the district forward,” he said.
A stronger
Please consider making a financial contribution to maintain, expand and improve Cambridge Day.
We are now a 501(c)3 nonprofit and all donations are tax deductible.
Please consider a recurring contribution.