Page 2 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, JUNE 4, 2021 HISTORIC HIRING | FROM PAGE 1 $2.39 But School Committee members are unanimous in their belief that it is worth every penny that they approved last week to bring in Erin McMahon with the great expectation that she will drastically improve the town’s school system. Her starting salary will be $196,000, according to the contract approved. “This Committee is making an approximate one-million dollar investment in this individual as the leader of our school district over the course of a fi veyear contract,” veteran School Committee Member Arthur Grabowski said last week. “That’s unprecedented for this district. It’s unprecedented for Saugus Schools to invest that amount of capital into somebody we hope and fervently pray will turn our school district around,” Grabowski said. J& $45 yd. S LANDSCAPE & MASONRY CO. MULCH SALE! 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He said the benefi t of a three-year contract is that the committee isn’t locked into a candidate long-term if things don’t work out. It would be easier for a school district to move on with a three-year contract, he said. “I thought long and hard about my vote. I usually vote what my conscience tells me to vote,” Grabowski said. “But at this moment, in terms of providing a united front to accommodate the superintendent and to be with her 100 percent of the way, I will be voting for this contract … So she knows that she has the committee that’s in place right now behind her 100 percent,” Grabowski said. McMahon, 47, of Marblehead, currently the senior advisor to state Education Commissioner Jeff rey C. Riley, was the committee’s 4-0 unanimous choice last month to replace retiring School Superintendent David DeRuosi, Jr. School Committee Chair Thomas Whittredge abstained from the vote because of a potential confl ict of interest, as his sister, Dawn Trainor, IT’S A DONE DEAL: The School Committee has approved a fi veyear contract to pay Erin McMahon about $1 million to run Saugus Public Schools. (Courtesy photo to The Saugus Advocate) is the executive director of Pupil Personnel Services & Special Education – a high administrative position that reports directly to the superintendent. DeRuosi’s contract expires on June 30, which is the fi nal day of the 2020-21 academic school year and the 2021 fi scal year and also the end of his fi fth year as superintendent. In her job in Commissioner Riley’s offi ce, McMahon has been guiding the COVID-19 reentry process, making recommendations for health and safety, rapid response and remote learning. Her other duties include providing practical recommendations to district superintendents on how to plan for diff erent models of learning while monitoring the implementation and the quality of the reopening, tracking lead indicators of wellness/ instruction. McMahon’s career as an educator took her from an English as a Second Language teacher in Washington, D.C., in 1995 to several principal and teacher administrative posts in New York City and Denver, Colorado. Before Commissioner Riley hired her, she had worked the previous six years as associate chief of academics and innovation in Denver Public Schools. She also served three years as a regional superintendent overseeing 6,200 students in 14 schools. She earned her Bachelor of Learn more at EVERETTBANK . COM/JUMBOARMOFFER 61 7-38 7 - 1 1 10 FOR ASSIS TANCE, PLEASE CALL THE HOME LOAN CENTER The payments above do not include taxes and insurance. If you request or are required to establish an escrow, your payment will be greater. The annual percentage rate may be increased after consummation. Subject to credit approval. Minimum loan amount is $550,000. APR effective June 2, 2021 and subject to change without notice. Annual Percentage Rate (APR) calculation assumes a $550,000 loan with a 80% loan to value. Available for owner-occupied, primary residence, single family or condominium units. Must be a new loan to the bank and used to purchase or refinance (80% maximum LTV). Other terms and conditions may apply. EVERETT – 419 BROADWAY RIGHT BY YOU LYNNFIELD – 7 7 1 SALEM STREET Member FDIC Member DIF NMLS #443050 Arts degree in History from Yale University in New Haven, Conn. She was a member of the Yale University Women’s Soccer Team and was Vice President of Pi Beta Phi Sorority. She received her Master of Business Administration, Finance and Operations from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. She also earned a Master of Science degree in Education Leadership from Pace University in New York City. School Committee Vice-Chair Ryan Fisher, who chaired the 15-member search committee which reviewed applications for the 25 candidates who initially replied to the superintendent’s opening in Saugus, was thrilled weeks ago with McMahon’s potential to turn things around for Saugus Public Schools. “Like everyone, I'm excited to see where Erin leads the district,” Fisher said in an interview this week. “She’s made it clear she’s in for the long haul. She was in her last two districts for six to eight years each, and she’s said it may take 10 years or more to fi nish the job in Saugus. She’s going to do great,” he predicted. During last week’s School Committee meeting when the contract was approved, Fisher stressed that a fi ve-year contract provides reasonable time for McMahon to do what’s necessary to turn around a district where the Middle and High Schools have undergone close scrutiny by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Both schools were determined to be in need of state intervention to make improvements. “Every metric tells us that Erin McMahon is going to be an outstanding superintendent,” Fisher told colleagues last week. School Committee Member Joseph “Dennis” Gould – who was vice-chair on the search committee – said all four of the finalists recommended by the search committee impressed him. But McMahon’s background put her in a class by herself, he noted last month. “I am so excited about Erin McMahon being the next superintendent,” Gould said at last week’s meeting. Search Committee Member John Hatch, who assisted the HISTORIC HIRING| SEE PAGE 3
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