by Qinglong Diep

LOWELL – The Lowell School Committee voted 6-0 Wednesday to rate Superintendent Liam Skinner’s overall summative performance as proficient and, in a separate 6-0 vote, open talks on extending his contract, which is in its final year.

Mayor Erik Gitschier proposed the contract talks after members shared their comments on Skinner’s annual evaluation. In seconding the motion, School Committee member Danielle McFadden praised the superintendent for the schools’ performance.

“I am very happy with your leadership, and the direction that the school department in Lowell public schools is going in,” said McFadden. “I see and hear so many positive things on a daily basis and I just hope that we can continue to go in such a positive direction.”

Gitschier stated the committee needs to settle the superintendent’s contract before it takes up union, administrators and other non union employees contracts, which also are coming due at the end of the current fiscal year on June 30, 2027.

The Mayor said negotiations should begin within about a month or so, answering a question from Dominik Lay of how soon the process would begin. Gitschier also indicated that by taking up this vote, it would reveal how close or far apart the two sides are and leave time to either reach a deal or look elsewhere before the current contract expires.

Committee member Dave Conway questioned whether Skinner should be the one to start such talks.

Gitschier responded that the committee, as the employer, should approach an employee it values and that Skinner could decline. He stressed that the vote does not commit the committee to any contract terms.

The committee also voted to accept the evaluation and place it on file as a report of progress. That motion was made by Committee member Fred Bahou and seconded by Eileen DelRossi.

Last year’s evaluation resulted in Skinner’s overall summative performance as “needs improvement/proficient.”

Bahou said it was the best evaluation he had seen for Skinner in his three years on the committee, crediting the superintendent and his assistant superintendent for the district’s direction. He cited declines in chronic absenteeism and increases in MCAS scores, multilingual learner scores and graduation rates.

Bahou also said the evaluation included a needs improvement mark in management and operations, though the category was marked as proficient according to the evaluation form.

DelRossi said the district office appears to be growing stronger, but that district-level direction does not always reach individual schools. She said not everyone is being heard on curriculum. Overall the district has improved since last year she said, indicating her evaluation reflected what she has heard from residents, she said.

Member Conway said his evaluation of the superintendent “speaks for itself.”

Gitschier singled out the district’s hiring of minority educators as the main shortfall in the evaluation. He said the share of minority educators has declined rather than increasing.

“We keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result,” the mayor said.

Skinner did not dispute the criticism. He said he agreed staff diversity does not match that of its students and that it must be addressed.

“I should be held accountable in our schools,” Skinner said, adding that he welcomes criticism from committee members as long as they explain and support their concerns with evidence. He said he would work to fix the areas members raised.

Committee member Connie Martin was absent from the session.