The All-Island school committee voted unanimously last week to renew Dr. Richard Smith’s contract as Martha’s Vineyard superintendent of schools.

Mr. Smith took over the position of superintendent on July 1, 2022 following the departure of Matthew D’Andrea.

“We see this as an opportunity to give some stability to the community,” committee chair Amy Houghton said at the Nov. 2 meeting.

Formerly the district’s second highest-ranking administrator as assistant superintendent, Mr. Smith agreed to take over for the two remaining years of Mr. D’Andrea’s contract with the goal of becoming the committee’s long-term choice.

This fall, all five of the Island’s district school committees evaluated Mr. Smith’s performance as superintendent before passing their assessments to the All-Island school committee for last week’s decision.

“The basic gist was that most people feel that he does a great job communicating and he keeps people informed, [and] that he relates to families very well and he’s doing a great job in most areas,” Ms. Houghton said.

The committee’s personnel subcommittee will negotiate with Mr. Smith on the terms of his new contract, before bringing the agreement back to the full All-Island committee for approval.

Under his current contract, Mr. Smith’s annual salary is $193,500, a 3.75 per cent raise from $186,500 in 2022-2023.