PEABODY — The School Committee’s pick for the city’s new school superintendent is Revere public school assistant superintendent Dr. Josh Vadala.
The board voted 7-0 to hire Vadala for the position. His formal start date is July 1 but Vadala said in an email, “I have already begun to engage with people in the community.”
His hiring comes as Peabody schools and others across the country and around the world remain closed as a precaution to halt the coronavirus spread. City schools are currently closed until Monday, April 6 with provisions made for free and reduced student meal distribution.
“The Committee and I were extremely impressed with Dr. Vadala during the interview process. His credentials and experience are ideally suited for Peabody. We believe he is the right choice to build on our school district’s many strengths and to help address the challenges we face as well,” Mayor Edward Bettencount stated.
Former state education specialist and Peabody teacher Dr. Marc Kerble has served as interim superintendent since last December when he was picked for the job following Superintendent Cara Murtagh’s death last November.
Bettencourt in an email statement said the School Committee received 33 applications for the superintendent job.
“I was extremely pleased with the quality of each one of them. I believe it demonstrates the high regard in which Peabody is held and that people look at ours as a school district with great potential and a great future,” he said.
According to his biography posted on the Revere public school website, Vadala started working for the school system in 1999 as a middle school teacher at SeaCoast. He was promoted to cluster leader and equity coordinator in the ninth to 12th grade school before becoming a high school special education teacher and mathematics teacher at Westford Academy.
He returned to Revere High School in 2010 and then served as assistant principal at the A.C. Whelan Elementary School in Revere, becoming acting principal in 2015. Vadala, according to the Revere website, earned his bachelor’s degree in elementary education and master’s degree in special education from Boston College. Vadala earned his doctorate in leadership in schooling from the University of Massachusetts-Lowell.
Thor Jourgensen can be reached at [email protected].
