MARBLEHEAD — Superintendent of Schools Dr. John Buckey has resigned, according to a joint statement released by School Committee members Wednesday.
“The Marblehead Public School Committee and Dr. John Buckey have come to an acceptable agreement resulting in his resignation as superintendent of schools,” the release reads. “Dr. Buckey’s resignation comes after several days of contract negotiations.”
His resignation follows more than a week of controversy stemming from the committee’s decision to hold a meeting through Zoom on Wednesday, July 26 to vote on exercising the early-termination clause in Buckey’s contract. However, the committee called the vote off, ending the meeting after less than 30 seconds, as School Committee Chair Sarah Fox told those watching that she had been advised by counsel to not go through with the vote.
The committee did not reference a specific reason for Buckey’s resignation in the statement.
“Dr. Buckey deeply appreciates the opportunity to have served his community, and the Marblehead Public School Committee thanks Dr. Buckey for his three plus years of service. The committee wishes him the best as he pursues other opportunities in the field of education,” the statement reads.
On Monday morning, the committee held an executive session “to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with nonunion personnel (superintendent),” according to the meeting agenda posted to the town website.
School Committee member Brian Ota again recused himself from the executive session, citing “obvious reasons.” Ota, who was elected on June 20, currently has an open complaint against Buckey stemming from the superintendent’s decision to not renew his contract as principal of Glover Elementary School.
Hours after the executive session was held on Monday, Cathyann Swindlehurst filed an Open Meeting Law complaint form against the School Committee, writing that “[the committee] decided, outside of the public view, to consider exercising the termination for convenience clause in the current superintendent’s employment agreement.”
Swindlehurst also laid out her concerns in an email sent to Fox obtained by the Item.
“My concern is centered on the firestorm created in Marblehead with the surprise that the board had already begun a process to invoke the early-termination clause in Dr. Buckey’s employment agreement,” Swindlehurst wrote. “I believe that if the discussion that led to the decision to launch an early-termination consideration process had happened in a public meeting, the current situation would have been avoided.”
The Open Meeting Law in Massachusetts was enacted in 1975 and requires most meetings of public bodies to be held in public. Its purpose is to “ensure transparency in the deliberations on which public policy is based,” according to the Open Meeting Law guide posted on Mass.gov.
According to Mass.gov, Gov. Maura Healey signed a supplemental budget bill on March 29, 2023 that “extends temporary provisions” involved with the Open Meeting Law to March 31, 2025. The extension will continue to let public bodies hold remote meetings without a quorum physically located at the place of the meeting.
Last week, Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations Michelle Cresta was named superintendent designee. However, the committee did not name Cresta as Buckey’s successor in the statement.
