PEABODY — Assistant Superintendent Joseph Mastrocola will turn in his keys May 21 to start work as superintendent of Groton-Dunstable Regional School District.
The administrator, who has spent nearly three years in Peabody, in February landed the top job in the two-town district in north-central Massachusetts. He initially planned to stay through the end of his contract in July.
"My district requested me to come up a little earlier to work on transition issues," he said yesterday. "I asked permission from the School Committee and the mayor, and they were very flexible in granting that."
The Peabody School Committee approved Mastrocola's departure date last week.
"He has been a good employee," Mayor Michael Bonfanti said at the meeting. "He has done well here."
Committee member Beverley Dunne wished Mastrocola well.
The assistant superintendent said it was his professional and personal pleasure to serve the school and greater community.
"Since day one, I was treated with the utmost respect," he said. "I've made a lot of great relationships."
Mastrocola said he looks forward to being a leader of a school district, though he would miss Peabody.
"It's been a positive experience here," he said. "I would never be able to do the job without my experience here as an assistant superintendent."
Mastrocola will earn $157,500 a year in Groton-Dunstable.
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