3 Melrose Superintendent Finalists Named

MELROSE, MA — The search for the next superintendent of Melrose Public Schools has been narrowed to three finalists.

The Superintendent Search Screening Committee thinned the field of 33 applicants to Interim Superintendent for the Hamilton-Wenham Regional School District Julie Kukenberger, Interim Superintendent for Brookline Public Schools Benjamin Lummis and Assistant Superintendent of Schools in Revere Joshua Vadala.

The School Committee will interview the three candidates the week of March 16. The community will also be able to meet the candidates that week.

Superintendent Cyndy Taymore announced in November she will retire, effective June 30.

The Screening Committee trimmed the field after discussing all 33 applicants, deciding to interviewing nine. Those interviews took place March 2-4.

Below are the biographies of each finalist as provided by the School Committee:

Julie Kukenberger

Dr. Kukenberger is currently the Interim Superintendent of Schools for the Hamilton-Wenham Regional School District (2019-2020). Dr. Kukenberger’s prior central office experience includes: three years as Superintendent of Schools in Scarborough, Maine; two years as Assistant Superintendent of Schools in Haverhill, Massachusetts; and almost two years as Director of Curriculum and Instruction for the North Hanover Township School District, New Jersey. In addition, she has been a Principal, Assistant Principal, and classroom teacher at the Elementary level in the North Hanover Township School District, McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey. Dr. Kukenberger has an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership for Social Justice from Boston College, a Master of Arts in Educational Administration from Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey, and a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education from Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey.

Benjamin Lummis

Mr. Lummis is currently the Interim Superintendent for the Brookline Public Schools (2019-2020). Between 2015-2019, he was the Special Assistant for Strategy and Performance in the Brookline Public Schools. Among his educational roles, Mr. Lummis has been a middle school English teacher in Needham and Cambridge, a design team member and Director of the Turning Points National Middle School Comprehensive School Reform Model for the Center for Collaborative Education. His leadership roles also include two years as a School Committee member in Cambridge, nine years working at the National Center on Time and Learning in Boston, and prior to his work in Brookline he was Vice President of Professional Development for EF Education First in Cambridge. Mr. Lummis has a Master of Arts in Teaching from Tufts University and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Michigan.

Joshua Vadala

Dr. Vadala is currently the Assistant Superintendent of Schools in Revere MA where he coordinates Pupil Personnel Services among his varied administrative duties. Prior to moving to this central office role in 2016, he was an Evaluation Team Leader at Revere High School and an Assistant Principal and Principal at the Whelan Elementary School in Revere. Dr. Vadala has also been a Special Education classroom teacher in Revere and Westford Academy in Westford MA (eleven years in total). Dr. Vadala has an Ed.D. from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, a Master of Education in Moderate Special Needs from Boston College, and a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education and Human Development from Boston College.

The Screening Committee included School Committee Members Margaret Driscoll (Chair), Jennifer Razi-Thomas and Jennifer McAndrew; Assistant Superintendent Margaret Adams; Teachers Joellen Beaudet, Leslie Means and Anthony DiBenedetto; Principal Michael Tracy; Community Representatives Bert Whittier and Sheilah Gauch; Education Expert Russell Johnston; and parents Conor O’Keefe, Manjula Karamcheti, Ward Hamilton, Ani Talarico Breay and Jacy Ippolito.