Schools to See Leadership Reorganization Under Interim Superintendent
By Ellen Putnam
Last week, the School Committee approved organizational changes to the Melrose Public Schools’ (MPS) central administration. These changes will be budget-neutral, and will shift around several duties in an effort to make more effective use of staff.
The School Committee also voted to name Cari Berman to the role of Interim Superintendent, which means that she will fill the role for the 2025-26 school year. After that point, the School Committee could decide to appoint Berman as Superintendent or select another candidate for the role. They have not yet announced what next year’s hiring process will look like.
Berman has been serving as Acting Superintendent since former Superintendent Adam Deleidi resigned from the position last month. She has worked for MPS since 2001 and was most recently the Assistant Superintendent for Pupil and Personnel Services.
The sudden announcement of Deleidi’s departure, only one year into a three-year contract, has left many in Melrose wondering what next year will look like for the schools. And budget cuts have left central administration looking lean: service cuts totalling $4 million prioritized positions that work directly with students, resulting in the elimination of administrative positions across the district and leaving only five positions in central administration.
“One of my first priorities is establishing a strong and cohesive Central Office Team that can lead Melrose Public Schools into a challenging upcoming school year,” said Berman’s memo explaining her proposed reorganization, “given recent changes in staff, budgetary constraints, a pending override, and contract negotiations.”
John Macero, who served as Interim Superintendent during the 2023-24 school year, has returned to serve as a senior adviser to MPS during this transition period. He assisted Berman with her plan for reorganizing central administration.
Berman requested that the School Committee approve a new organizational chart that creates a single Deputy Superintendent position that will report to the superintendent. This is a change from last year, when the district had two assistant superintendents: the Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning, whose position was eliminated in this year’s budget cuts, and the Assistant Superintendent for Pupil and Personnel Services, which was Berman’s former role.
The Deputy Superintendent role will “serve as the principal advisor to the Interim Superintendent and School Committee in matters related to finance, procurement, and budget,” the job description reads.
The School Committee voted to appoint Ken Kelley, who had been the schools’ Business Manager, to the role of Interim Deputy Superintendent. While many in Melrose may be familiar with Kelley’s financial expertise, he also has a background in school leadership, having been a principal before he came to MPS. The Interim Deputy Superintendent role will incorporate Kelley’s current duties as head of the schools’ business office, while also adding responsibilities in several other areas.
The reorganization also includes a new job title for Melanie Acevedo, who will now be the Executive Director of Academics and Accountability. She will oversee a new position: the Director of Academics, 6-12.
What will now be the Director of Academics, 6-12 position was the subject of some debate during this year’s budget process. When some money was freed up in the school budget, former Superintendent Deleidi proposed adding back a single curriculum director position (to replace two positions from the 2024-25 school year): a Director of Curriculum, K-12.
School Committee members and members of the public argued that one or more of the 31 teacher positions that had been eliminated should be added back, not an administrative position, while Deleidi argued that the district needs a minimum number of administrators to function. Ultimately, the School Committee approved the job description for the Director of Curriculum position and the position was included in the budget.
Cari Berman and John Macero at last week’s School Committee meeting
Screenshot from MMTV
Under Berman’s new reorganization, this position will become the Director of Academics, 6-12. Acevedo, Berman noted, “has been in the district for many years and worn many different hats, but K-5 content is really her specialty. So she will be working specifically with the elementary principals,” while Nora Tsoutsis, who had been the Director of Humanities last school year and will become the new Director of Academics, will focus on the secondary campus.
Another shift will be the creation of a Student Relations Director position. Because MPS receives students from Boston through the METCO program, it is required to have an administrator who is responsible for students in the METCO program. With the departure of the current METCO Director, Deleidi had proposed replacing that position with an Executive Director of Student Programming position that would incorporate the METCO Director’s duties. That position has now become the Student Relations Director, who will oversee the METCO program, work with homeless students and students who are in foster care, and oversee bullying, harassment, and civil rights complaints. The district is currently hiring for this position.
Finally, the Assistant Superintendent of Pupil and Personnel Services position will become a dedicated Interim Special Education Director position. This position would be responsible for overseeing special education in MPS, which is legally mandated, serves over 700 students (nearly 20% of all MPS students), and encompasses over $9 million of the $47.6 million MPS budget.
For the 2025-26 school year, the Interim Special Education Director position will be shared between Linda Chase and Marc Kerble, two “veteran special educators” who shared a similar interim position in the Stoneham Public Schools over the last two years. Kerble is a retired superintendent, and Chase has held roles in special education and student services.
“Looking at the size and the structure of our district,” reflected Berman, “I think this is a really great core structure not only for next year, but also to move us forward.”
“I think what’s important for everybody to understand is that we looked at what’s in the best interest and direction for the Melrose Public Schools,” added Macero. “It wasn’t about people, it was about what’s best for the district. And currently our vision is that if this works out well, it could be something that continues in the future.”
“And we know we can’t come in here and say ‘we want to add these positions,’” Macero went on, “There’s no money for that. So we had to really take a look at what you had already structured and try to restructure within those parameters.”
“I think we need to recognize that in other districts, some of these jobs are still the job of four people,” noted School Committee member Jennifer Razi-Thomas. “And sometimes systems work better when you have fewer people. You know, the lean, mean fighting machine is sometimes better than having a million directors and they’re running over each other. This doesn’t mean it’s not going to go well next year. I think this is as good a plan as we can get with what we have.”
“We can all think of things that we want to fill gaps on,” added School Committee member Matthew Hartman, “but this provides a structure to build on as we head into a year when we’re going to face capacity challenges. I think we’re going to find out exactly how much capacity each of these positions has, exactly how much capacity our teaching workforce has, with the cuts that we’ve had there.”
“Making sure that our Interim Superintendent has the right people and the right positions on her team is how we set the district up for success as we prepare for the 2025-26 school year,” said School Committee Chair Dorie Withey in a statement. “With Interim Superintendent Berman leading the district and Interim Deputy Superintendent Kelley continuing to focus on our budget and fiscal priorities, I am confident in the course and direction of our schools for next year.”
Last week’s School Committee meeting also touched on several areas that preview some of the impacts that budget cuts will have on the schools next year.
Lisa Lewis, The Bridge’s Volunteer Coordinator, submitted a report on her organization’s work in the 2024-25 school year. Her position, which had previously been partly funded by MPS, has now moved off the school budget and is funded entirely by The Bridge, which means, Lewis noted, “fundraising will be a bigger challenge next year” for the nonprofit organization.
And while volunteers keep many aspects of the schools running, Lewis pointed out that utilizing volunteers can actually be more challenging with fewer staff in the schools. “While it seems like volunteers would be more welcome than ever,” her memo read, “often the inverse is true - educators who are stretched thin have less bandwidth to work with outside volunteers, as they lack the time and energy to get them set up to be truly and independently helpful. The Bridge hopes to work on additional volunteer training to reduce this barrier, and hopes to find some volunteers willing and able to offer consistent support to some of the larger and younger classes.”
Acevedo presented student assessment data from the end of the school year, which indicated growth for all grade levels, while still showing gaps for some specific grades.
Last year’s fifth grade, which will be moving up to middle school this year, Acevedo noted, were in kindergarten in 2020 and experienced first grade, where intensive reading and phonics instruction take place, as a hybrid year. “This group has always been a little behind,” Acevedo noted, “and as the work gets harder, some of them are still working on foundational skills.” With fifteen positions set to be eliminated at Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School this year, continuing the work of catching these students up may become more challenging.
Acevedo also presented the district’s Professional Development (PD) Plan, which highlighted learning opportunities Melrose educators had this year. The report also previewed the challenges the district will face next year, given significant cuts to the PD budget ($65,000 was reduced this year, leaving just $10,000 in the budget) and to the Teaching and Learning office, which coordinates PD opportunities, where over a dozen positions have been eliminated since 2023, leaving only Acevedo and Tsoutsis.
“We’re doing this balancing act of: what are the things that we legally and ethically need to provide?” said Acevedo, “And what are the things that, unfortunately, educators are not only going to have to go outside the district for, but also pay for out of pocket? Because we won’t have the ability to support some of those endeavors.”
“I think what we see in our data is that PD matters,” reflected Withey. She highlighted the line from Acevedo’s memo that stated: “Without a dedicated teaching and learning office to analyze student data and inform district priorities, it remains uncertain how we will determine the most appropriate PD offerings.”
“I also want to acknowledge that PD is one very key way for educators to continue to grow in their craft,” Withey went on, “And given our current fiscal reality, we are admitting very publicly that it’s going to be really hard to offer professional learning experiences to our educators. It’s just the stark reality of where we are now.”
“You know, a theme of the Professional Development Plan presentation since I’ve been on the committee has always been how much great stuff we can do with so little,” reflected School Committee member Jen McAndrew. “And now the rubber has met the road here in Melrose, because we’re not able to do anything with nothing.”