Schools Superintendent John Buckey has received more than 20 applications for the position of assistant superintendent for teaching and learning to replace Nan Murphy, who is leaving to lead the Dedham schools. Marblehead is also searching for a high school principal now that Dan Bauer is taking the superintendent job in Danvers. “I look forward to starting the searches in earnest once we return from February vacation,” Buckey told the Marblehead Current. “My impressions are favorable so far.” Job descriptions have been posted for both…
Superintendent of Schools John Buckey cautioned that if the town holds the district to a 1.8% budget increase for FY 2024, 33 staff positions will need to be cut. The current school budget is nearly $44 million. “It’s devastating to morale,” Buckey said. “People are already asking building principals and directors if they’re going to be out of a job. People will begin looking. I can see people hedging their bets saying, ‘I don’t know if I’ll have a Marblehead job next year so I’ll…
The Marblehead High girls swim/dive team captured the state championship on Saturday, Feb. 18, at MIT. “(Our girls) worked hard to get here,” said veteran coach Sue Guertin. “We were down before the 500-yard freestyle, but thanks to Clementine Robins, who won the event, we were up by four points. “Amherst-Pelham won the West Sectional, and was slated to win the state championship, which they won last year,” added Guertin. “Amherst had two girls in the backstroke, who scored ahead of us. But in the…
Marblehead officials put the town on notice Wednesday afternoon, following a recent pattern of hoax phone calls, known as swatting incidents, into area police stations alleging an imminent threat exists at local high schools. “This week several schools have been targeted including Haverhill, Amesbury, Ipswich high schools and Salem High School today,” Marblehead Superintendent John Buckey and Police Chief Dennis King wrote in a Wednesday email to local parents. “The caller in each incident appears to be the same person, and reciting the same narrative.” The pair…
After trimming about $4 million from his original FY 2024 budget proposal for Marblehead schools, Supt. John Buckey and the School Committee still need to find at least another $643,651 in cuts to meet guidance from the town. The School Committee meets again Thursday, Feb. 16, at 7 p.m. Barring an override this June, the town is allowing the school district to increase its current $44 million budget by 1.8%, or $800,000, for FY 2024, according to Buckey. He says that amount won’t even cover…
Towards the end of the Dec. 15 School Committee meeting, Chair Sarah Fox dug up an old bone of contention with some of her colleagues and Superintendent John Buckey. Fox noted that she had recently learned that Buckey had resumed his practice of paying $2,000 a month for the services of Milton-based Horan Communications, founded by the first chief communications officer for the Boston Public Schools, Chris Horan. Marblehead is one of dozens of districts in Massachusetts and beyond with whom the firm has worked,…
Concerns that local students might tap into the cutting-edge artificial intelligence offered by ChatGPT to do their schoolwork for them have been realized, Superintendent John Buckey told the Marblehead Current. The powerful, multilingual chatbot can instantaneously perform literary analysis, compose original poems, write short fiction and compute complex math problems. "This is so new, districts are trying to get up to speed quickly as they discover more about it," Buckey said. "We just did a professional development on the topic." OpenAI, a private artificial intelligence…
Good People of Marblehead: I recently joined the Rotary Club of Marblehead. I was a member of Rotary in each of my prior districts. It is a wonderful opportunity to be engaged in service to our community and to collaborate in advocacy for our schools. This past week, fellow Rotarian Jack Attridge reminded the group of the collaboration they launched this year with MPS. I share the following: “In September 2023, the Rotary Club of Marblehead gave a gift to the Marblehead Public Schools of…
For the next five months, resident Thomas Mathers will serve as an interim member of the Marblehead School Committee. The Marblehead School Committee and the Select Board picked Mathers in a joint meeting on Monday night, interviewing a half-dozen candidates in Abbot Hall over a two-hour period. Mathers will serve out the remaining months of Emily Barron’s three-year term on the School Committee. Tom Mathers, far right, during his interview in Abbot Hall on Monday, Jan. 23. CURRENT PHOTO / WILLIAM J. DOWD In the…
And then there were eight running for the Marblehead School Committee vacancy. On Monday night, the Select Board and School Committee will convene a joint meeting to interview candidates and select one to fill the vacancy created when resident Emily Barron resigned in the fall. Eleven candidates submitted applications for the open position. One of those candidates, Ariana Contreras, was ineligible because she was not a registered Marblehead voter. Two others — Joe Patuleia and Laurence H. Winer — withdrew their names, leaving eight candidates…
