“Each is very different, but each has great qualities.”
—Linda Dwight, current HES principal
If things had gone according to plan, Superintendent Joe Connelly would have announced the new Hildreth Elementary School principal at last Monday’s School Committee meeting. But snow shut down area schools for three days, slowing the schedule a little, Connelly said.
Instead, Connelly says he’ll choose between the two finalists by the end of this week, Friday, Feb. 14. When the decision is announced, the Press will post it at www.harvardpress.com.
The two finalists for the principalship—chosen from more than 60 applicants—have followed markedly different career paths. Sarah Cronin has 15 years’ experience as a classroom teacher but a minimum of administrative experience. Sue Frederick has spent a decade as a principal following seven years as a school psychologist but lacks background in the classroom.
Sarah Cronin (Photos by Lisa Aciukewicz)
Cronin in leadership program in Newton
Sarah Cronin, currently a principal intern at the Underwood Elementary School in Newton, began her career as a reading and language arts teacher for sixth-graders in Brockton, where she was nominated for the Disney Teacher of the Year award in 2001.
Since 2004, Cronin has taught in grades 3, 4, and 5 in Newton. Among her responsibilities was aligning math and reading curricula with the Common Core standards. She was also involved in an intensive program to improve third-grade scores in math on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS). The following year, Newton’s third-graders achieved the highest math scores in the state.
In January 2013, Cronin enrolled in a program on educational leadership at Endicott College. She expects to complete her master’s degree in organizational management this June. Her current position of principal intern is part of that leadership program. She already holds a master of science in communications media from Fitchburg State College.
In a written personal statement submitted with her application, Cronin said she would continue the Hildreth tradition of welcoming families into the school: “When parents feel welcome in school, children see that we are all working toward the same goal. It is important to me to have the pulse of the school, not to be locked away in an office, but on the ground noticing successes and anticipating and solving problems.”
Sue Frederick
Frederick is principal in Millbury
The other finalist, Sue Frederick, is principal of the Elmwood Street School in Millbury, a position she has held since 2008. Elmwood serves 640 children from pre-kindergarten through third grade. Frederick supervises about 80 employees in her current position, as well as maintaining the school budget and overseeing curriculum implementation. Frederick also coordinates a parent volunteer program at Millbury in which about 100 parents take part.
Earlier in her career, Frederick first served as a vice principal and then as a principal in Holyoke for four years. While in the Holyoke school system, she managed schools with students from preschool to seventh grade, as well as coordinating many special education programs.
Before that, Frederick spent seven years as a school psychologist in Pittsfield, where she developed an early literacy intervention program, coordinated school-based mental health services, taught a social skills curriculum, and ensured compliance with special education laws, among other responsibilities.
Frederick holds a certificate of advanced graduate studies in school psychology from American International College and a master’s degree in educational administration from the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.
Search ends with public forums
The search for a new HES principal began last fall, almost immediately after the current principal, Dr. Linda Dwight, was named the new superintendent of schools for Harvard, effective July 1, 2014. An 11-member search committee sifted through the 66 applications that were received by the Jan. 3 deadline.
After a round of initial interviews, the search committee narrowed the field to five semifinalists. Those semifinalists were interviewed by the school administrative council, including Superintendent Connelly, the principals of HES and Bromfield, and the director of pupil services, among others.
Once Cronin and Frederick were chosen as finalists, Connelly, Dwight, Associate Principal Gretchen Henry, and teacher Kristina Lazaro conducted site visits to their schools and invited the two candidates to visit HES.
The final steps in the four-month search took place this week. On Tuesday, Cronin toured HES and met with faculty and staff in the afternoon. After a supper break with administrators and School Committee members, she took questions from parents at a public forum in the HES library. Frederick followed the same schedule on Wednesday.
Speaking of the two candidates, Dwight said, “Each is vastly different, but each has great qualities.”
