Photo: Belmont Schools Superinterndent Dr. Jill Geiser
It was smooth sailing for Schools Superintendent Dr. Jill Geiser as the Belmont School Committee voted unanimously to support a second employment agreement with Geiser to continue as the district’s leader for an additional three-year term.
“I want to acknowledge Dr. Geiser leadership and the work underway across the district that she has been spearheading,” said School Committee Chair Meg Moriarty, who noted the contract will run from July 1 through June 30, 2030, with a possible one-year extension.
“The agreement that we’ve come to reflects that the school committee wishes to support the continuation of that work and your very strong district leadership. I think the contract provides important continuity for the Belmont public schools through June 2030, with a standard one-year extension,” said Moriarty.
Details of Gieser’s contract, including her salary and compensation which is being adjusted in year one, allowing her to be compensated at an equivilent level found in other districts, were not provided by Moriarty. Those changes are based on a third-year superintendent with a doctorate in education, followed by modest, predictable increases that reflect both other contract conditions in the district and the fiscal responsibility expected of the school committee.
After the vote, Geiser called out the committee’s “confidence in my work as a superintendent. I also convey that to the leadership team. It is the people on our team that really make things happen, and I want to extend appreciation in that direction as well.”
Geiser pointed out the experience of being a superintendent in a community where she lives “is really pretty incredible.”
“I get comments like, ‘Is that hard [working in Belmont]?’ I was like, ‘Actually, it’s good.’ It’s because I feel that I have much more investment in it, and it’s not hard to get out to certain events and things like that and see what’s going on,” she said.
“I appreciate very much the opportunity to do that here in Belmont, and I am looking forward to continuing on with the work,” said Geiser.
Libby Given the Full Time Job
The transitional title ‘interim’ was a prefix to Jonathan Libby’s title up until Tuesday, when the School Committee approved Libby’s appointment to be the district’s next full-time Director of Student Services through the coming three years.
The Department of Student Services encompasses guidance, nursing, and special education services from preschool through high school.
“I think that the school committee feels that the agreement supports the continuity and leadership in the Student Services Department, which is critical for many of our students and families,” said Moriarty.