David Murphy will be the permanent superintendent of Cambridge Public Schools following a vote by the School Committee on Monday.
Murphy, who is the district’s interim superintendent, will assume the permanent role July 1 after contract negotiations with the committee. Cambridge has been without a permanent superintendent since the committee voted to end former superintendent Victoria Greer’s contract in May of last year.
The final vote was between Murphy and two other remaining finalists in the election – Magaly Sanchez, the chief family advancement officer for Boston Public Schools, and Lourenço Garcia, assistant superintendent in Revere.
Murphy has overseen the district through an array of transitions, including the recent opening of the Tobin Montessori and Darby Vassall Upper schools and the closing of the Kennedy-Longfellow School at the end of the previous academic year. Murphy will be charged with navigating a number of challenges, including the establishment of district policies around artificial intelligence and questions surrounding equity.
The vote culminates a controversial search process that saw one candidate disqualified, another found to have lost money in a cryptocurrency scam and called into question the hiring of a third party search firm.
Murphy was not present for Monday’s meeting. “I am grateful for the vote of confidence in the work our team is doing represented by tonight’s vote. To a person, the individuals of the Cambridge School Committee with whom I have worked, both past and present, have focused on the well-being of our students,” Murphy said in a press release put out Monday by the district.
The original vote tally was five for Murphy, two for Sanchez and zero for Garcia. Members Richard Harding, Rachel Weinstein, Elizabeth Hudson, David Weinstein and Jose Luis Rojas Villarreal voted for Murphy; mayor E. Denise Simmons and vice chair Caroline Hunter voted for Sanchez.
After the initial vote, the committee approved Murphy’s permanent appointment unanimously.
Search process
Despite a search process that was fraught with controversy, the committee presented a unified front that the search yielded qualified candidates.
Simmons remained steadfast in her support of the search process and told the committee it has looked similar to the previous two superintendent searches she has overseen.
“Tonight marks a combination of many months of thoughtful, diligent work by the Cambridge School Committee,” Simmons said at the meeting.
Rojas reaffirmed the legitimacy of the search while acknowledging where the committee could have done better.
“I acknowledge that we could have communicated more clearly about the legal and practical reasons that shape how this process works,” Rojas said. “Had the process resulted in the lack of qualified candidates, I would not hesitate to advocate for restarting it, but that is not the case.”
Member Rachel Weinstein said that she wishes the committee had selected a different search firm, but that the process nonetheless yielded “three compelling candidates.”
Contract negotiations with the superintendent and the committee are to follow, Simmons said.
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