New Elementary Principals, Curriculum Director Introduced

Editor's note: Typos were corrected in this article on Tuesday at 11:35 a.m.

Three new Melrose elementary school principals and the new district-wide curriculum director were formally introduced at a press conference on Monday morning at City Hall.

Last Thursday, the new hires, which are:

• Dr. Margaret Adams, Melrose Public Schools curriculum director;

• Grace Basile, principal;

• Dr. Mary Ellen Carideo, principal;

• Jenny Corduck, principal.

Incoming Superintendent Cyndy Taymore—who is on vacation this week, but present at the press conference—thanked retiring Superintendent Joe Casey and the School Committee for allowing her "to participate to the degree I did in selecting the new team.

"They fully understood the need for me to have a say in who was going to be working with me," Taymore said. "As we begin to face some challenges—many of the challenges have been mentioned by the principals and Dr. Adams here—we do have a considerable amount of work ahead of us and we wanted to have a balanced team."

Speaking to that concept of a balanced team, Taymore said that Basile brings a math background, Carideo brings a science and math background, Corduck brings experience from early childhood education and Adams has "considerable experience" in literacy, English Language Learner (ELL) programs, curriculum development and assessment.

"Balancing out the remainder of our elementary school team, I think we’re really well positioned as we move into the coming year," she said.

Casey said that "a lot of strong candidates" applied for the open positions, with the administrators introduced on Monday rising to the top.

"We want to thank everyone who participated in the searches," he said. "Melrose should be relieved and pleased. I know they’ll do a great job under Ms. Taymore’s leadership."

Curriculum Director Dr. Margaret Adams

Currently the director of literacy, Title I and the ELL program in Malden Public Schools for the past six years, Adams previously worked in Brockton as the Bilingual/English as a Second Language department head for four years.

Adams said that in both those roles, she's worked on professional development, curriculum development and working with principals around school improvement.

In Malden, Adams also focused on parent involvement, she said, noting her and working with local newspapers "to help bring parents into the educational process and curriculum," and looks to do the same in Melrose.

"My goals would be to help children exceed their potential, to be great readers, writers," she said. "It’s an exciting time in education, a lot of change in education. I'm excited to work with the teachers and all the new principals."

Challenges she'll face in her first year revolve around the new , the new educator evaluation system and new student assessments on the horizon, Adams said.

"MCAS is slowly going to be replaced, we’re pretty sure with PARCC, so there’s a lot more rigor expected of students and teachers," she said. "We need to do some work around that, across the state. These are issues facing the state in all districts."

Roosevelt School Principal Grace Basile

Basile comes from Lowell, where she worked for 14 years as a special educator, math coach and eventually assistant principal.

"I think that in the new initiatives, that aren’t new necessarily, but state initiatives—Common Core standards, evaluation, intervention, RTI (response to intervention, )—I have a lot of experience and I think I can bring a lot to those changes that are going to be happening in Melrose," she said.

Born and raised in Medford, Basile said she's a "big proponent" of school culture and shared leadership, and added that she is excited about being part of the smaller Roosevelt community as part of the community at-large.

"I’m looking for more of a smaller setting, a smaller community," she said. "I think that urban districts have been sort of at the forefront of all these things and I think that I could bring a lot to this type of community."

Horace Mann School Principal Dr. Mary Ellen Carideo

Carideo comes from Chelsea, where she was the assistant principal of the Eugene Wright Science and Technology Academy for two years. Prior to that, she spent 10 years in Boston Public Schools, starting as a classroom teacher and moving on to become a citywide program director and eventually assistant principal/director of instruction.

"The last two years, I’d say my greatest growth as a leader and what I hope to bring to Melrose is establishing professional learning teams within my school and across the district," she said. "Coming from a small district of nine schools and a strong leadership team, I hope to bring that experience to Melrose and set-up that culture at my own school."

The constant of Carideo's career, she said, has centered around emerging literacy and strengthening adolescent literacy, which will be incorporated in the new Common Core standards, particularly she said when it comes to incorporating non-fiction materials in areas such as science and middle school.

"I am excited to work with an elementary school—I feel like I have a good handle on what really needs to be there entering a successful sixth grade level," she said. "I look forward to working across the board with the elementary schools to ensure that the middle school children are getting an equal shot and consistency in instruction and curriculum."

Asked to expand on professional learning teams, Taymore jumped in, saying that PLCs (professional learning communities) or PLNs (professional learning networks)—which she previously mentioned in —is an educational approach based on research in the field.

"It is a belief that the best way to advance teaching and learning in a school system is through building a culture in which adults are willing to learn from each other … and take risks for the sake of all the children," she said. "Many communities have developed this practice. It’s a practice I’m also bringing to Melrose. In choosing this team, one of the things I looked for were people that had experience with PLCs or PLNs."

When Taymore meets with the school leadership team this summer on a two-day retreat, she said, they will talk about how to roll that practice out across the district.

Hoover School Principal Jenny Corduck

Corduck is a familiar face in Melrose, now entering her 15th year in the district, the first 10 years of which she spent as a preschool teacher at the Lincoln, Franklin and Ripley Schools.

Five years ago she became the director of the Ripley Early Childhood Center and eventually the , which combined the Ripley program and the integrated preschool program at the Roosevelt School. Since becoming the ECC director, Corduck grew the school from 120 students to potentially having 298 students at the Franklin next year.

"I feel like the work I’ve done at the Franklin, my years of learning and growing as a leader of a school, has definitely prepared me for what’s coming next," she said. "I need to get to know the world of elementary and I’m fully invested in doing so."

Corduck noted that over the past five years, she has regularly collaborated with the elementary principals on walkthroughs in each others' schools, observing a variety of classroom settings and lesson plans.

"I'm excited to take what I’ve learned at the Franklin, as far as what makes for good instruction, and carry it into the elementary school world and feel really prepared to do so," she said, adding, "A part of me will always be at the Franklin—near and dear to my heart."

With Corduck's move to the Hoover School, the Early Childhood Center now has a vacant director position, which Taymore said would be tackled in July when they will hold meetings with parents and staff to discuss next steps for the school.

"I think it’s fairly common knowledge we have a more immediate challenge that has arisen in the past week ()," she said. "That’s not minimalizing the Early Childhood Center, but where they are not in summer session and are not planning schedules, I have a little bit of breathing room on the early childhood. So hopefully in early July, we’ll be meeting with parents and staff to talk about what they see their need to be."