Dan Black named to be new school superintendent

Dec. 29—LONDONDERRY — The Londonderry School District has its new superintendent.

Dan Black, who was serving as the interim superintendent, was officially named the new leader at a School Board meeting Dec. 20.

The board's unanimous decision to choose Black came after many months of work by a superintendent search committee, initially charged early last year under the guidance of the Bryan Group, who helped the committee determine superintendent competencies and characteristics; collected and vetted applications; and ran an in-depth interview process.

Prior to be named the interim superintendent earlier this year, Black served as assistant superintendent since 2016 under former superintendent Scott Lalberte.

Board member Bob Slater said the search process was a grueling one, lasting many months and not moving forward with viable candidates up until the most recent search process, that included Black.

After successfully going through short and long interviews, Black demonstrated most all of the competencies the district was looking for in its next permanent leader, officials said, and he moved forward in the process.

The next steps included tours of six district school buildings, then an evening meet and greet with the community.

"I have watched this man operate since May when we made him the interim," Slater said. "He has put a team together like no other."

Slater added Black's performance while in the interim role showed that he was committed to moving the district in the right direction, to "right the ship" of the Londonderry School District.

"I feel the Londonderry School District is going to be very fortunate to hire this man as superintendent," Slater added.

For Black, it was a humbling moment to be named to the top job.

"I'm not usually at a loss for words," he said following the School Board vote. "I'm very humbled and very excited."

Black said he felt he always knew the district would "rebound" to get on track after many challenges, including navigating the pandemic. "We just needed the ability to find ourselves again."

Before coming to Londonderry, Black worked in Keene as an assistant superintendent. He was also a founding principal in New York City schools, an instructional coach, a middle school science teacher, and served with Teach for America in Texas.

In Londonderry, Black is known for his data-based collaborative decision making and has been instrumental in the formation of the district's Portrait of a Graduate.

A press release noted Black is focused on designing clearer competency-based curriculum and is deeply committed to helping the district plan effectively for issues such as student achievement, facilities planning, and the status of public kindergarten.

Black also makes visiting classrooms and supporting teachers and students a priority.

Black added he felt the district did a good job with the search process.

"I was reminded of the great staff and community we have here in Londonderry, and how lucky I would be if given the opportunity to be their leader," Black said. "I am so proud of our school system and how we rebounded to normalcy this year and reminded our community of how strong our academic program is, while providing our students with a wide range of co-curricular experiences to build their skills outside the classroom. We are in a strong place right now and will continue to take steps to improve where we want to get better for our students and community."

One of Black's first goals will be to lead the search process for a permanent assistant superintendent.