School Committee Suspends Superintendent Evaulation

The Lexington School Committee met on Tuesday, May 8, amid mixed sentiment over recent awards won by students at and criticisms the handling of low teacher morale reports.

With his evaluation on the agenda for the evening, members of the community spoke out against Superintendent of Schools Paul Ash, specifically noting a perceived violation of trust and lack of confidentiality in the district's handling of supposedly anonymous teacher comments collected in .

In the face of the scrutiny surrounding the , the committee voted to suspend discussion of the superintendent’s evaluation until a later date.

The School Committee is meeting at 3 p.m. today, May 9, at the to discuss with town and school counsel to how to approach data collected from staff and relied upon as the basis for the Wellman Report, which committee members voted to access late last month.

Once that decision was passed and a few members in the audience filed out, business resumed on a more uplifting note. Lexington High School students won the National Science Bowl Competition, took third in the International Robotics Competition and two students won an Emmy Award.

The U.S. Department of Energy National Science Bowl is a nationwide academic competition that tests students’ knowledge in all areas of science. Lexington High School won this year's competition.

“I want to highlight the incredible work of students at LHS. The awards do not work in isolation," Ash said. "I personally want to thank teachers and parents who have supported our students. Thirteen-thousand high schools could compete in this tournament. This is the first time in 22 years that anyone from New England won the National Science Bowl."

Lexington High School also placed third in the International Robotics Competition this year. The two year old team consists of 21 students who won the state championships, the national championship and went on to compete in Washington D.C. for the International championship.

“Along the way, a boy from Saudi Arabia had a robot that was malfunctioning. Five students saw this total stranger and helped him out seeing how his coaches had not arrived yet," Ash said. "These students earn a gold medal for character."

Two Lexington students won an Emmy award for their public service announcement: James Cullen and Kyle George won first prize in the New England Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences National Student Awards for Excellence Competition.

In other business, the School Committee approved the French Student Exchange trip to Antony, France as well as the Latin and Italian student field trip to Rome, Sienna and Florence, Italy.

As well, the School Committee saw a presentation on the English Language Arts Curriculum for Year Three and voted unanimous vote to accept a $626 donation from a Wilson Farms’ Shop at school fundraiser, which will be deposited in the Bridge School Gift Account.