SALEM — Special Education Director Karen Malio will retire at the end of the school year, which marks the sixth administrative vacancy the schools have to fill next year.
Malio is in her fourth year in Salem as director of pupil personnel services, a department that includes special education, guidance and nursing.
"It's not only an important position but an extremely difficult position," Superintendent William Cameron said upon announcing Malio's retirement at the School Committee meeting last night.
During her tenure, Malio worked to create special education programs and services within the Salem Public Schools to enable the district to bring students back from costly out-of-district placements.
Two years ago, she told the administration that the Salem schools had consistently mislabeled struggling children as needing special education services, which resulted in a staggering rate of 1 in 4 pupils classified as special needs — a trend she said her department was also working to reverse.
Malio served as director of pupil personnel services in Billerica before coming to Salem in 2006. Malio earns $97,419 in Salem, according to school budget documents.
Cameron said the position is being advertised.
Other administrators retiring at the end of the year are Diane O'Donnell, principal of Horace Mann Lab School; Phil Burke, principal of Carlton School; Ana Hanton, Bowditch School principal; and Assistant Superintendent Alyce Davis.
The schools are also searching for a principal at Saltonstall School, where there is an interim principal this year.
"We will be looking to replace Ms. Malio for the beginning of July," Cameron said.
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