STOCKBRIDGE — It might surprise some observers that Berkshire Hills Regional School District Superintendent Peter Dillon also receives a report card. It’s not something he needs to get his parents to sign, however.
Dillon is one of only two district employees — Business Administrator Sharon Harrison being the other — who is evaluated by the School Committee. And since the committee is a public body that hires and fires both of those employees, Dillon’s evaluation is released publicly. That’s what happened at Thursday night’s Berkshire Hills Regional School District Committee meeting.
Now in his 12th year at the helm, Dillon received his usual high marks from the subcommittee charged with evaluating him. The panel is chaired by Anne Hutchinson of Great Barrington and also includes Bonnie Bonn-Buffoni of West Stockbridge and Sean Stephen of Stockbridge.
The vote of confidence also included an agreement to offer both Dillon and Harrison new contracts, though the precise terms, including salary agreements, were unclear because they were still to be negotiated with school committee chairman Steve Bannon.
Click here to see Dillon’s seven-page evaluation, which is based on a form provided by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. He met or exceeded goals for emergency management, professional practice, resource allocation, instructional leadership, management and operations, family and community engagement, and professional culture.
“The goals were mostly about trying to get through the pandemic,” Hutchinson told the committee. “Those are set by the state.”
Of Dillon’s performance during the COVID-19 pandemic, Hutchinson wrote, “The School community successfully weathered the storm with a steady hand on the tiller.” Stephen added that Dillon “did an excellent job.”
Dillon was rated proficient in all aspects of instructional leadership, management, and operations. Hutchinson also noted that Dillon was charged with hiring several administrators over the recently completed academic year. He had to hire two assistant principals, a health and wellness specialist, and a new director of teaching and learning, Jonathan Bruno, whom Hutchinson noted has overseen “effective” professional development for staff.
See video below of Thursday’s Berkshire Hills School Committee meeting. Fast forward to 40:30 to see the discussion of Dillon’s evaluation:
Dillon mostly exceeded goals in the area of nurturing and sustaining a professional culture. Overall, taking into account all of the above categories, Dillon rated a summative evaluation of “exemplary.”
“In this very difficult year for everyone, Dr. Dillon has managed the changing needs and priorities ably,” the evaluating subcommittee wrote. “With health and safety needs of the entire school community paramount, decisions were made, implemented, and revised. We all look forward to a truly student-centered year to come, with parent and community communication a top priority.”
School committee member Bill Fields of Great Barrington suggested the membership of the subcommittee that evaluates the superintendent be expanded, adding that, “I have a suggestion that we include some sort of student and staff feedback. I think it’s important that we listen to the people who work with Peter, as well as the students.”
Bannon asked for and received a motion, which passed unanimously, to renew the two contracts for another three years: “The terms will be negotiable. Peter and I will handle the negotiations and [the school committee] will discuss, if need be.”
Dillon thanked the committee for the vote of confidence. Harrison’s evaluation was not included in the information packet for the meeting. The district office did not immediately return a message inquiring as to what Dillon’s salary is for the current year.
As recently as 2017, he was paid $155,900 and Dillon typically received 3% raises, according to this reporter’s records. At that time, school committee members were convinced that Dillon was underpaid compared to his peers throughout Berkshire County. Since 2016, Dillon has been doubling as the part-time superintendent for the Shaker Mountain School Union, for which he had been paid extra.
Dillon has helmed the district through some rough times in recent years. In 2013 and 2014, reconstruction projects of more than $50 million failed to pass in tax-weary Great Barrington, leaving district officials wondering what to do with the aging Monument Mountain Regional High School.
Last March, Dillon and his staff scrambled to cope with the COVID-19 state of emergency declared by Gov. Charlie Baker. The district offered remote learning for the remainder of the 2019–20 academic year. Efforts to reopen fully were complicated by objections from labor unions representing the district’s faculty and staff. Dillon had no experience as a superintendent when he was hired in 2009 to replace the retiring Donna Moyer. Dillon, now 55, came to Berkshire Hills after serving as executive director of policy for the New York City Board of Education. Before that, Dillon was principal of the Heritage School in East Harlem for eight years. For more information, click here.
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