Arlington Names New Principals Of Gibbs, Peirce Schools

ARLINGTON, MA – Superintendent Kathleen Bodie announced the appointment of new heads of Peirce Elementary School and the Gibbs School last month.

On May 13, Andrew Ahmadi was named the next principal of the Peirce School, replacing retiring principal Karen Hartley. Ahmadi currently serves as the assistant principal of the Whittemore Elementary School in Waltham.

During his first two years in Waltham, he was also a Teaching Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His prior elementary teaching experience was as a fourth-grade Lead Teacher at The Berkeley Carroll School in Brooklyn, New York.

"I am grateful for the dedicated work of the Interview Committee, which identified four very qualified and experienced finalists for this elementary leadership position, as well as the Peirce faculty and parents and District Administrators who spent time in virtual meetings with all of the finalists," Bodie said in a statement.

Ahmadi has a master's degree in school leadership from Harvard, where his areas of focus included organizational behavior, team leadership/coaching, family outreach, financial allocation and narrowing the achievement gap in public schools. He also has a master's degree in childhood education from Hunter College and held a Summer Fellowship at the Klingenstein Summer Institute at Columbia University.

Bodie also announced the appointment of Fabienne Pierre-Maxwell as the next principal of the Gibbs School, Arlington's town-wide sixth-grade school. Pierre-Maxwell will replace Kristin DeFrancisco, who is leaving to take an assistant superintendent position in the Groton-Dunstable Public Schools.

"The Interview Committee performed at a high level, bringing forward four excellent finalists," Bodie said. "District Administrators, Gibbs faculty, and parents asked key questions as well during virtual sessions and I appreciate their thoughtful feedback."

Pierre-Maxwell comes to Gibbs with more than 15 years of professional experience in public education. Her most recent position was as interim principal of the K-6 Ledyard Center School in Connecticut. Prior to that, she was principal for seven years at the Pre-K to grade 8 Alfred E. Burr Elementary School in Hartford, CT.

Pierre-Maxwell also served as assistant principal at the Chestnut Accelerated Middle School in Springfield, MA for five years. Her first administrative experience was as Chair of the Foreign Language Department and Student Council Advisor at the John J. Duggan Middle School in Springfield. She taught French and Spanish at the middle school level at the Elias Brookings K – 8 school, also in Springfield.

Pierre-Maxwell completed Project LEAD, a District-Based Licensure Administration Program in Springfield in May 2006. She earned a Law/J.D. at Western New England College School of Law. Her undergraduate education was at Smith College.

She has pursued many additional professional development opportunities, including Closing the Achievement Gap (Harvard), Instructional Rounds - CORE Instructional Practice (Teacher/Students/Content) and Cultural Competency & Blended Learning.