Marblehead High School accreditation postponed

MARBLEHEAD – Marblehead High Acting Assistant Principal Herbert Levine, a semi-retired former seven-year superintendent of schools in Salem, may have already earned his estimated $30,000 paycheck – he has helped the high school to get its upcoming accreditation postponed by one year.The high school was scheduled to conduct its self-evaluation in 2011-2012 and face evaluation by a visiting team from the New England Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges in 2012-2013. Now the self-evaluation will be in 2012-2013 and the NEASC visiting team will arrive in 2013-2014.Asking for the extension was Levine?s idea, based on the fact that Marblehead High has had four principals in the past five years and next year the town will have a new superintendent of schools, Gregory Maass, who will arrive from Green Bay, Wis. on July 1.Levine will work on academic issues until June 30, the rest of the fiscal year, and has no plans to apply for the permanent assistant principal position. He is taking the place of Kristina Kyles, who left a month ago to complete her doctorate work, at her monthly salary.Principal Ken Weinstein was proud of his first major hire and Levine?s accomplishment in an interview Monday. “I specifically wanted someone who could hit the ground running,” Weinstein said. Since his most recent administrative experience was in a private school, he also wanted someone who could advise him on the fine points of public school administration.When he applied at the urging of a friend, Superintendent of Schools Paul Dulac, he took the worry out of mid-year hiring.?I don?t think any of the other applicants had ever served as assistant principal,” Weinstein said. “Some of them had just gotten their assistant principal certificates. And I wouldn?t want to pull someone out of another school system mid-year. That?s a hard thing to do to another principal.”Weinstein will conduct a search for a settled assistant principal this spring.