Weston School Committee Tables Five-Year Strategic Plan, Citing Lack of Specificity

WESTON — June 15, 2026 — Weston School Committee approves superintendent goals and evaluation but stalls on five-year strategic plan. The committee voted unanimously to approve Superintendent Karen Zaleski's two revised 2026-27 goals — a K-12 digital learning framework and a district-wide communication improvement plan — and assigned her a final summative evaluation rating of proficient for the 2025-26 cycle in a 4-0 vote, with new member Stephen Dietz abstaining because he had not participated in the full review process. The committee also approved a new WEEFC Principal Innovation and Enrichment Grant pilot, authorizing $5,000 per school, $25,000 total, for summer grants administered by the Weston Education Enrichment Foundation Committee. But a nearly hour-long debate over the draft 2026-2031 District Strategic Plan ended without a vote after members Kenneth Newberg and Jane Li questioned whether the plan's goals were specific enough to Weston's needs. "How do you differentiate us from Wellesley? Right now, from what was read, we could have taken their plan off the shelf," Newberg said. Chair Daina Selvig directed members to return to a special meeting around June 22 with concrete motions specifying what, if anything, they want changed before the plan is approved.