Winchester School Committee Unanimously Backs Superintendent's Evaluation, Literacy Funding Article

NORWOOD — March 20, 2026 — Winchester School Committee unanimously approved Superintendent Dr. Robert Hackett's summative evaluation and endorsed a Spring Town Meeting article to fund a new K-5 literacy curriculum using free cash. Chair Laurie Bolognese read the full evaluation into the record, citing Dr. Hackett's on-time, on-budget delivery of the Lynch Elementary School, district-wide strategic planning, and labor negotiations completed without legal intervention or lost instruction time; the committee moved to a biannual review cycle, with the next evaluation set for March 2028. Dr. Matthews, identified as vice chair, submitted an exemplary rating on management and operations, specifically crediting Dr. Hackett's stewardship of the State of the Town process given the district's lean central-office staffing. On literacy, the committee approved — pending Select Board co-sponsorship — a town meeting article to appropriate free cash for a comprehensive kindergarten-through-fifth-grade curriculum selected after a two-year review drawing on eight data sources and participation from roughly 89 percent of the elementary workforce; the specific dollar amount will be filled in after the Early Literacy Team presents its recommendation at the March 26 meeting. The meeting was also the final one for nine-year member Michelle Bergstrom.