Waltham School Chief Receives Good Evaluation

A year into her tenure, received a good evaluation from the Waltham School Committee on Tuesday.

"It's above proficient," said Waltham School Committee Vice Chairwoman Susan Burstein on Nicholson's performance evaluation.

Nicholson received good marks on both the regular goals and merit goals portions of the evaluation. The numbers below are averages computed from each members' individual evaluation, according to Burstein. 

GOALS (Scale of 1 to 4, with 4 as the highest)

• Institutional Leadership: 3.175
• Organizational Leadership: 3.25
• Administration  Management: 3.09
• Community Relations: 3.08
• Qualities Related to Effectiveness: 3.11
• Relationship to School Committee: 3.16

MERIT GOALS

Burstein said Nicholson met all of her merit goals, but did not specify what they were.

LACK OF DETAIL

Presentation of the results lacked some detail. Burstein said she would not read the detailed results aloud claiming they have been publicly discussed before. Despite Burstein's claim, Tuesday's evaluation results was the first publicly known time in which the School Committee announced results of Nicholson's review. 

NOTE: Waltham Patch is seeking written copies of the evaluation, which are public records.

Also, Burstein, in response to a question from School Committee member Teddy Tarallo, said collecting written comments from members for the final review was not part of the process. Burstein claimed it was only necessary if there were "common themes" among comments from various members. 

"There really wasn't enough to put something together," Burstein said. "What's really more important is that individuals have taken the opportunity to explain to the superintendent where they are coming, what their input is on individual items." 

As a result, Nicholson will receive a 1 percent merit raise in addition to her automatic increase required by her contract, according to Burstein. She

Nicholson did not comment on her review during the meeting.