Danvers Superintendent Dan Bauer Gets High Marks In First Year

DANVERS, MA — First-year Danvers Superintendent Dan Bauer received lots of praise and high marks across several categories for his 2023-24 performance during the School Committee annual evaluation results shared on Monday night.

School Committee members acknowledged that Bauer took over at a divisive time for the district in the wake of a widely publicized hockey hazing scandal as well as several incidents of hate and bias within the school and community in the months leading up to his appointment last spring.

But he was commended for the way he helped navigate the schools toward a more inclusive and tolerate place, as well as for his communication skills, community engagement and his role in the recently completed successful negotiation of a new teachers union contract.

He received an overall grade of "proficient" — which is the second-highest grade level on the scale — with his family and community engagement skills graded as "exemplary."

"Dan's effort and work this year as a superintendent have been very strong," School Committee Chair Gabe Lopes said in summarizing the evaluation. "He's made strides in improving the district, focusing on a safe and supportive learning environment. The district has rolled out new learning materials at the elementary level, and initiated hiring efforts to make staff more representative of the school population.

"Dan took over during a challenging time for our district. His presence in the schools, attendance at events and use of social media have positively impacted the community, helping to rebuild our reputation."

School Committee member Eric Crane was among those who credited Bauer with helping conclude a successful negotiation on a new teacher collective-bargaining agreement at a time when many surrounding communities are facing rocky contract talks ahead of a summer expiration date.

"People don't necessarily understand what a challenge negotiations are," Crane said. "You negotiated — not alone, but still — with four different bargaining units and got them all concluded with fair, and reasonable, and affordable contracts. Lots of help coming from different places, but help you embraced, and really set up a collaborative scheme to allow a lot of us to help out.

"The results speak for themselves. That's a tremendous accomplishment for a superintendent, especially in your first year. You should be very pleased and proud with your performance ... I think we're really all pleased. Nothing's perfect but there is nothing negative to say about the job you did."

Bauer said the mission now is to build off the foundation that has been created in his first year.

"Our goal is to be better in Year 2 than in Year 1," he said. "Knowing that this job is too big to do alone and certainly there are so many people who have given so much and continue to give so much.

"We can't sit on our laurels and say, 'this is great,' because there is a lot of work to do. There are a lot of great things that are in place. But we need to continue to push forward. ... We do need to look forward to improving."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at [email protected]. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)