Great Barrington, Stockbridge, and West Stockbridge — The Berkshire Hills Regional School Committee will review Superintendent Peter Dillion’s annual evaluation at its meeting on Thursday, October 24. The meeting is scheduled to be held at 5:30 p.m. at the school district’s office at 50 Main Street in Stockbridge, as well as virtually via Zoom.
Dillon has been the superintendent for the school district since July 2009. The district posted its evaluation of Dillon to its website on Friday, October 18. The evaluation was completed by Anne Hutchinson on behalf of the Superintendent’s Evaluation and Advisory Subcommittee.
The evaluation makes numerous references to the Great Barrington Police Department’s investigation of a now-former W.E.B. Du Bois Middle School teacher over an investigation of her having a copy of the book “Gender Queer” in her classroom.
“This has been a fairly tumultuous year for BHRSD with the ongoing transition to proficiency-based learning, grading, and deleveling,” Hutchinson states in the evaluator comments section. “Also, there was an in school police investigation instigated by a disgruntled employee. In addition, all three schools have new principals and the superintendent had extended health issues.”
Despite this, Hutchinson writes:
The ship is now stable with experienced administrators in all positions and some administrative support (a seasoned administrator had been filling in gaps and shoring up responses while Dr Dillon was out for medical care). New energy is evident in progress with policies and district improvement plans. Systems for professional observation and evaluation of all personnel are now implemented.
Hutchinson adds that the evaluation “was not completed in the academic year 2023-2024 due to superintendent health problems. Therefore it covers July 2023 through September 2024.”
In the evaluation, Dillon is noted as exceeding Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) project goals, including goals with the school district’s building and outreach committees.
“The selection of the project manager and architect/designer are terrific,” Hutchinson writes. “The required education plan was fulfilled despite the absence of key people at a critical time.”
However, Dillon is marked as making only “some progress” for other goals, including analyzing Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) data:
Some observations, evaluations, and professional development assessments were incomplete for 2023-24. Strong system of tracking and reporting observations/evaluations is now in place. Some surveys with no action items identified. Overall administrative vision for data-informed outcomes. Most recent MCAS data shows system-wide deficiencies in math, while ELA and science are strong. Systems of support for recent administrative hires are recognized.
As for school district goals in communications, Hutchinson writes:
Improvement recently with a part-time communication hire. The current website was not maintained but is now updated. Very good building project website was done by an agency working for the project manager and the district. Updates to the district community need to be more consistent as there is a very strong need to communicate goals, vision and priorities. A new website is currently in progress.
Finally, Dillon was evaluated for meeting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) goals for the school district. Some of these goals set by the district are based on a report issued by the STOKE Collective in August 2023. Hutchinson writes in the evaluation:
Strong attempts to rebuild middle school community trust after initial misguided response to police classroom search for a book. Initial response was driven by incomplete police request and information. Affinity groups are ongoing with increasing district support. Ongoing need to define, hire and support DEIB coordinator. STOKE report has not been fully implemented.
The full evaluation is available on the school district’s website.
