NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The city's new superintendent of schools was made official on Wednesday night with the ratification and signing of a three-year contract.
Barbara Malkas of Clarksburg is expected to begin her new duties July 1.
She is currently under contract with the Webster Public Schools, which she said is looking into hiring an interim.
Mayor Richard Alcombright, chairman of the School Committee, did not anticipate Malkas being unable to start by July 1, nearly seven weeks away.
"I have no concerns about that. We'll figure out the next step if we have to," he said.
Retired Superintendent James Montepare is currently filling in the post but said he was very happy to turn the reins over to someone like Malkas.
The School Committee met in executive session to discuss the contract and then voted unanimously to offer Malkas $135,000 in the first year of the contract, with years two and three to be negotiated later.
The contract is the same as the one Montepare has had with some minor changes. She will receive 25 days annual vacation, and can accumulate up to 35 (five less than Montepare had in his contract); 15 sick days per year, and three personal days.
Since she will not be able to reach the minimum years necessary under the annuity plan for retirement severance, the district will invest $1,500 in pre-tax dollars each year. She will also receive minimum annual reimbursement of $1,500 for intradistrict mileage.
Malkas' request to list membership of three specific professional organizations was also part of the contract, although she is not limited to those. The committee agreed to pay dues for these associations and to provide up to $4,500 a year for professional conferences for Malkas or her designated representative.
"She's lobbied a lot for education, she's kind of a player at the state level and we want to make sure that continues," said Alcombright.
Malkas has been superintendent in Webster since 2012; she had previously been an administrator in the Pittsfield Public Schools and McCann Technical School, and a science teacher at Taconic High School. She earned her doctorate in educational leadership from the Sage Colleges in Albany, N.Y.
She and her husband, John Euchler, live in Clarksburg and have two grown children. The are originally from the New York City area.
"There's a wonderful foundation here in the North Adams Public Schools," said the mayor. "Jim's going to be turning over to you something that's good and we want you to make it better."
Malkas thanked the committee for the "amazing professional opportunity" in her own back yard.
The schools and community are great, she said, but added that to halt the decline in population, "we just need to really have a focus on education as part of the economic infrastructure of the community."
"I think if we do that and work together ... we're going to see the kind of improvement we're all hoping for, to really have this vibrant, beautiful place become a center that really attracts people to want to come back or come to ... It's going to take a lot of work and I'm looking forward to that."
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