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Superintendent Andrew O’Leary and Deputy Superintendent Darcie Aungst have signed new contracts that will extend their leadership of New Bedford Public Schools through June 2031.
O’Leary, who became the district’s permanent superintendent in January 2024, said: “I am very appreciative of the School Committee’s support and confident that, together, we’ll work as hard as possible to match the promise of our city’s young people.”
O’Leary will make $234,000 in the first year of the new contract, which takes effect on July 1 — the beginning of the school’s fiscal year. Aungst will earn $198,000. For both leaders, the contracts will represent a roughly 3% raise over their last year’s salary, then will increase by 2% for each of the five years of the contracts.
O’Leary added that he was proud to serve alongside Aungst, the deputy superintendent and former principal of both Congdon and DeValles elementary schools. “I’m especially grateful that the Committee endorsed the leadership partnership I’ve developed with one of the state’s leading educators, our Deputy Superintendent Darcie Aungst,” O’Leary said.
The School Committee approved the new contracts at its annual Winter Retreat on Feb. 20 at the Wilks Branch of the public library, which was open to the public. The committee previously had deliberated during the executive session at the February meeting of the School Committee.
The School Committee members were unanimously in favor of extending the contracts. Newly elected School Committee member Richard Porter called the process “an easy negotiation,” because the committee felt the two leaders were the best fit for their jobs. O’Leary and Aungst were “spot on what we need right now in the school system to move forward,” Porter said.
Mayor Jon Mitchell, who also serves as ex officio chair of the School Committee, provided a statement through a press release: “Superintendent O’Leary and Deputy Superintendent Aungst have established clear expectations for academic performance and have heightened accountability,” Mitchell said. “The New Bedford Public Schools is on a pathway toward sustained improvement under their leadership.”
Melissa Costa, another committee member, praised O’Leary and Aungst for “their proven commitment to academic growth, equity, and opportunity.”
Aungst said in a statement, “It is a tremendous honor to continue serving New Bedford Public Schools as Deputy Superintendent. I’m very grateful for the School Committee’s confidence and for the opportunity to keep working alongside our staff, leaders, and families in service of our incredible students.”
In January, the School Committee shared its annual evaluation of O’Leary’s performance. That report, shared by member Christopher Cotter, identified O’Leary’s areas of strength in “fiscal stewardship and operational leadership,” and an “instructional focus on literacy, arts, and early learning,” among other areas.
For areas of growth, School Committee members identified “family and community engagement” and “improved academic outcomes and targets.”
Email Colin Hogan at chogan@newbedfordlight.org
Darcy is the best. It’s money well spent. She handles children with the correct response. Discipline when needed and encouragement most of the time. She is what a superintendent is made of.
The residents should be able to vote who, when and how long contracts are made for administration. That’s a voting time that most of the eligible voters will turn out. It’s our tax dollars, we want a say now.
New Bedford is lucky to have someone with a pulse for this pittance of a salary. If city residents are so up in arms over his compensation they might as well not even bother having a school system because no external candidate with the bare minimum of experience and educational credentials is going to want this job for less than $300k.
!00% he makes more than the Mayor, this should be an elected position.
So you want New Bedford to potentially be even more of a laughing stock and intellectual and economic hellscape than it already is? NB is lucky to have a superintendent at all with that salary.
Your welcome to your opinion, but 5 years @ $200 Thousand Dollars is a year is $1 Million Dollars paid by the taxpayers, I believe this position accountable to and elected by the residents of New Bedford.
You hit that nail right on the head!
They’re held accountable through the elected school committee and the mayor. This isn’t the kind of position that’s intended to be filled by election. The hiring and retention of a school superintendent is best left to professionals who have the best interests of the school system and students in mind, understand what’s needed in a superintendent and are capable of vetting candidates. We’ve all seen that quite often the electorate votes for slogans and based on emotion without even understanding or trying to understand the policy differences between candidates and to do so here would be unimaginably destabilizing to the system and city at large. I understand that New Bedford is down on its luck economically and the salary seems exorbitant but in the context of the market and in light of the responsibilities and the qualifications required, it’s reasonable and perhaps low.
Your welcome to your opinion but it is clear our city politicians have failed us. We have city budget that has doubled on the watch of this Mayor and the City Council. To say in the context of the market and in light of the responsibilities and the qualifications required, it’s reasonable is totally not acceptable. This type of thinking will not help the future of this city, everything has to be on the table, our city needs to take back physical financial responsibility, and stop spending money we do not have. 100% New Bedford needs new leadership in City Hall.
The Superintendent earns less than 1% of the School Department’s annual revenue.
In private industry the range is 2 to 4+ percent.
He could earn far more elsewhere.
Income this year for Mary Skipper, superintendent of Boston Public Schools, includes $324,643 in base pay, plus a $60,000 annuity, $7,800 for transportation costs, and $1,500 for dental care.
$464,143 total.
The position is accountable to the resident of New Bedford.
His contract is approved by the people we elect.
Should all school personal be elected by the residents of New Bedford?
To compare New Bedford and Boston is ridiculous economically the two cities are not even close, the Boston’s incoming revenue destroys the credibility of this comment.
Albert, you should really get facts before you comment. Boston is thriving, New Bedford is failing. Boston is larger, New Bedford is smaller, there is no comparision!
AI GOOGLE IT!
Boston Public Schools (BPS) generally offer a wider range of high-performing exam schools (e.g., Boston Latin) that compete nationally, with student performance on par with the national average. New Bedford Public Schools, while lower-ranked overall in the state, focuses on improvement, whereas BPS deals with larger, more complex urban disparities in performance.
Boston Public Schools
Boston Public Schools
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Boston Public Schools (BPS) Overview
Performance: BPS student performance is generally on par with the national average for urban public school districts.
Top Schools: The district is known for top-tier exam schools, such as the Boston Latin School and the O’Bryant School of Math & Science, which are consistently ranked among the best in the state and nation.
Rankings: Boston is often ranked as one of the top 10 most educated cities in the U.S. due to its high concentration of schools and universities.
Boston Public Schools
Boston Public Schools
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New Bedford Public Schools Overview
Performance: As a district, New Bedford often shows lower overall performance metrics compared to high-performing suburban districts in the Greater Boston area.
Improvement Efforts: The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) tracks districts for accountability, with many in the region categorized as not requiring intervention, focusing on continued progress.
Massachusetts Department of Higher Education
Massachusetts Department of Higher Education
Comparison
District Type: BPS is a large, diverse urban district. New Bedford is a smaller, regional city district, both facing challenges typical of urban education.
Range of Options: Boston provides a broader range of specialized, high-performing options (including charter schools) compared to the more centralized, but improving, New Bedford school system.
Boston Public Schools
Boston Public Schools
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Data and Reports – Boston Public Schools
On the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) – also known as the “Nation’s Report Card” – Boston students’ performanc…
Boston Public Schools
Accountability Report – School and District Profiles
Sep 29, 2025 — Accountability reports include information on each district and school’s performance against improvement targets, as well as infor…
Massachusetts Department of Higher Education
These are the 40 best public high schools in Mass.
Aug 20, 2025 — Among the top five public high schools in Massachusetts this year, Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School (ranked No. 2 i…
Abby Kelley Foster – Charter Public School
If they are going to serve the public and get such a salary. YES!
Facts from DOE prove you wrong. Since when is one qualified just because they have a pulse and other districts have higher salaries. They also have passing and above passing students. They are also larger. There is NO comparison! NONE WHAT SO EVER!
Let him go elsewhere! Best thing that has come out of your comment yet! He needs to move on!
Wasted money, failing performance! No reason for such a salary for O’Leary. Darcie has earned every penny!
O’Leary that’s $4500.00 a WEEK 2026/2027 growing to a WEEK $4,884.62 in 2030/2031. For failing New Bedford students! You can best believe the workers that actually do the work can’t get a decent raise. Breadcrumbs!
We are lucky to have Superintendent O’Leary.
Where are comments after March 11, 2026, why are they not posted. We have a group discussion and post. Where 3are the comments it’s the 14th?
If you don’t want to receive comments, especially if they are negative, then don’t write an article. By not posting comments you are not allowing freedom of speech. You want it as a reporting column, we want it as commentors.
Wonder why the city’s budget is so large! It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out;