• Contact Us
  • Events calendar
Entering Swellesley
Pinnacle, Wellesley

The Swellesley Report

More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.

  • Advertise
  • Contribute
  • Eat
  • Wellesley Square
  • School
  • Top 10 things to do
  • Embracing diversity
  • Charities/Community
  • Arts
  • Camp
  • Kids
  • Environment/Sustainability
  • Events
  • About us
  • Subscribe
  • Natick Report
  • COVID-19
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Bulletin Board
Needham Bank, Wellesley
Boston Sports Institute, Wellesley

Wellesley Public School principal comings & goings timeline

June 15, 2015 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Upon seeing that the Wellesley Public Schools system was looking for a new Fiske Elementary School principal, a reader asked about just how many of the town’s principals have come and gone of late. I’ve had such inquiries in the past as well when principals have left, sometimes in bunches. So I’ve created a timeline below that runs from 2011 until now to put the moves into some perspective (if the timeline works correctly, you should be able to hover over it and slide backward or forward using the arrows).

Schofield Principal Gerardo Martinez has had his job since 2011 -- the longest principal tenure in town
Schofield Principal Gerardo Martinez has had his job since 2011 — the longest principal tenure in town

Gerardo Martinez, who became the Schofield principal in 2011, has held his job the longest among current Wellesley principals. Five of the 9 principalships have been filled since David Lussier took over as superintendent in 2012, and the new Fiske

principal will make that 6 of 9. It’s not unheard of for changes to happen during summer either, as our timeline shows.

I asked people in the know in surrounding communities like Natick and Newton whether 4 years seems short for a community’s longest-tenured principal and they all quickly responded with “Yes”. My Newton contact pointed to Newton North High School’s principal leaving after 9 years as of this summer as well as his kid’s elementary school teacher having been on board for at least 6 years. In Natick, my source said that Natick has very low turnover in principals compared to Wellesley. For example, the town’s Kennedy Middle School’s principal is retiring after 9 years and Wilson Middle School’s principal left this past year after 9 years on to job, to become assistant superintendent.

The state didn’t have any numbers to share on average tenure of public school principals. But the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, does have on its website stats about superintendent, principal and teacher turnover since 2009, and it shows that Wellesley’s principalship retention rate has been lower than that of the state average for 4 of the 6 years (though I question their 2014 data since they list Wellesley having 10 principals vs. what I think should be 9). 2013’s the year in which Wellesley’s rate really dipped, when only 5 of 9 principals were retained.

(According to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics on public and private school principals, there were more than 231,000 such jobs in the U.S. as of 2012.)

While the tenures of current principals in the Wellesley system are relatively short, you don’t have to look back too far to find Wellesley principals who did last longer than 3 or 4 years. Andrew Keough served as Wellesley High’s principal for 7 years before leaving in 2014 for a superintendent’s job in Easton (though it’s true that he would have left sooner if he’d been chosen for any of several other superintendent’s jobs he’d sought in recent years). John D’Auria was principal at Wellesley Middle School for almost two decades upon leaving in 2007.

But why has the turnover in general been more frequent in recent years? Change is inevitable when a new superintendent comes on board. Parents are only becoming more, shall we say, demanding. And principals might be finding that just a few years of Wellesley on their resumes does the trick for converting that experience into a job that might be closer to home.

Many of the ex-Wellesley principals have naturally gone on to other jobs in education, though some with a twist. Former Hunnewell principal Sheryl Boris-Schacter, for example, is a VP for national program design at youth service organization City Year. Former Bates principal David Ieong, meanwhile, is pursuing a career in the craft beer business.

print

Share

Filed Under: Education

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Linden Square, Wellesley
Fran's Flowers
Clearhaven Recovery

Tip us off…

Please send tips, photos, ideas to [email protected]
Wellesley Square ad
Wellesley, Jesamondo
Admit Fit, Wellesley
Sexton test prep
Feldman Law
Fay School, Southborough
Wellesley Theatre Project
The Moving-Pictures Company
image of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
covid vaccine
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
Never miss a post with our free daily Swellesley Report email
Name: 
Your email address:*
Please wait...
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide

You can subscribe for free, though we appreciate any contribution that supports our independent journalism.

Click here to read our Natick Report

Natick Report

Most Read Posts

  • Newton-Wellesley Orthopedic Walk-In—no appointment needed
  • Wellesley summer camp listings 2021 — find the experience of a lifetime
  • Beyond Wellesley: Swellesley goes to Eastie
  • Wellesley sports catch-up: Softball fields opening ceremony; Boston Marathon invitational #s up for grabs; Peewee AA1 hockey team wins title
  • Kitty-in-a-capsule lands in Wellesley Square

Events Calendar

« April 2021 » loading...
S M T W T F S
28
29
30
31
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
1
Sat 24

WellesleyRocks concert: Shira Doron & Patrick Hayden; Bigfoot acoustic

April 24 @ 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Mon 26

Virtual lab tour, pooled COVID testing

April 26 @ 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Wed 28

Fay School virtual information session

April 28 @ 10:00 am - 11:00 am
Wed 28

Open House at Boston Outdoor Preschool Network

April 28 @ 10:00 am - 11:00 am
Thu 29

Creating Living Landscapes to Restore Nature’s Relationships  (webinar)

April 29 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Pages

  • Guidelines for Letters to the Editor
  • Wellesley Community Bulletin Board
  • Wellesley’s 7 official scenic roads
  • Wellesley, Mass., fishing spots
  • Wellesley, MA Police logs
  • Wellesley Business Buzz
  • Wellesley Choral Society
  • Wellesley College Notable Alumnae
  • Wellesley College, Wellesley, Mass.
  • Wellesley outdoor art gallery
  • Wellesley restaurants offering take-out and delivery
  • Wellesley, Massachusetts restaurant — Amarin of Thailand

Recent Comments

  • Peter Watson on Wellesley celebrates Earth Day by launching Climate Action Plan process
  • Deborah Brown on Wellesley library to open temporary location in the former Talbot’s space, and more details
  • Deborah Brown on Kitty-in-a-capsule lands in Wellesley Square
  • debra start on Kitty-in-a-capsule lands in Wellesley Square
  • Kelly on Wellesley library to open temporary location in the former Talbot’s space, and more details

Links we like

  • Great Runs
  • Jack Sanford: Wellesley's Major League Baseball Star
  • Taquitos.net
  • Tech-Tamer
  • The Wellesley Wine Press
  • Universal Hub
  • Wellesley Sports Discussion Facebook Group

Categories

  • 2021 Town Election (21)
  • Animals (389)
  • Antiques (48)
  • Art (545)
  • Beyond Wellesley (31)
  • Books (346)
  • Business (1,383)
  • Camp (3)
  • Careers/jobs (46)
  • Churches (74)
  • Clubs (211)
  • Construction (282)
  • Dump (114)
  • Education (2,923)
    • Babson College (244)
    • Bates Elementary School (14)
    • Dana Hall School (29)
    • Fiske Elementary School (6)
    • Hardy Elementary School (33)
    • Hunnewell Elementary School (34)
    • MassBay (49)
    • Schofield Elementary School (20)
    • Sprague Elementary School (19)
    • St. John School (1)
    • Tenacre Country Day School (9)
    • Upham Elementary School (30)
    • Wellesley College (600)
    • Wellesley High School (895)
    • Wellesley Middle School (195)
  • Embracing diversity (52)
  • Entertainment (729)
  • Environment (681)
  • Fashion (134)
  • Finance (13)
  • Fire (144)
  • Food (328)
  • Fundraising (565)
  • Gardens (137)
  • Government (427)
    • 2020 Town Election (47)
  • Health (762)
    • COVID-19 (154)
  • History (361)
  • Holidays (367)
  • Houses (121)
  • Humor (45)
  • Kids (821)
  • Law (3)
  • Letters to the Editor (12)
  • Media (63)
  • METCO (4)
  • Military (3)
  • Morses Pond (97)
  • Music (546)
  • Natick Report (28)
  • Neighbors (252)
  • Obituaries (62)
  • Outdoors (589)
  • Parenting (60)
  • Police (704)
    • Crime (358)
  • Politics (545)
  • Real estate (294)
  • Religion (127)
  • Restaurants (306)
  • Safety (143)
  • Scouts (1)
  • Senior citizens (111)
  • Shopping (123)
  • Sports (907)
  • STEM (107)
  • Technology (159)
  • Theatre (383)
  • Town Meeting (22)
  • Transportation (212)
  • Travel (12)
  • Uncategorized (1,212)
  • Volunteering (320)
  • Weather (169)
  • Wellesley Election 2019 (21)
  • Wellesley Free Library (260)
  • Wellesley's Wonderful Weekend (5)
RSS Feed Icon Subscribe to RSS Feed

© 2021 The Swellesley Report
Site by Tech-Tamer · Login