UPDATE: Principal Herrera Leaving Winthrop School

Editor's note: This article was updated on Tuesday at 4:45 p.m., correcting Herrara's new position and adding a statement from Superintendent Joe Casey.

Another Melrose principal is leaving after one year in the district.

Principal Mary Alise Herrera is leaving her post to become the principal at Tyngsborough Middle School. She was previously an assistant principal for preschool through Grade 2 and a fifth grade teacher at Tyngsborough Elementary School before coming to Melrose.

Herrera said in an email sent to Winthrop families late Monday evening that her announcement comes with "great difficulty" and that she was offered the new position last Friday, notified Melrose of her intent to take the job and submitted her letter of resignation to Superintendent Joe Casey this morning.

"I was not actively looking for a job, and fully intended to stay in Melrose next year and help transition both Winthrop and the district forward," she wrote. "However, the Tyngsborough job offers me and my family more time together, and is an opportunity for me that was too good to pass on."

Herrera said she had spoken with incoming Superintendent Cyndy Taymore and Casey and "will work with them to transition Winthrop smoothly and successfully." More information on the transition will be forthcoming in current weeks.

"I have had a wonderful year and am truly thankful for the students, staff, and families who have supported me," Herrera wrote. "I wish you well!"

In an emailed statement on Tuesday afternoon, Casey wrote, "We thank her for her work with staff and children this past year. The Melrose School Committee will work with Ms. Taymore to identify the next leader for the Winthrop
School community."

, who to become the director of the Community Service Network.

She's now the fifth Melrose school principal to leave this year, and fourth elementary principal, leaving Principal Brent Conway and Principal Tom Brow as the only returning principals.

Like Herrera, Principal Dan Richards is leaving after one year in Melrose to return to the district he came from; in this case, .

Hoover School Principal Dr. Dennet Sidell left to become ; Roosevelt School Principal Kerry Clery is ; and Horace Mann School Principal Jeff Strasnick is taking the .

Last Thursday, that Jenny Corduck will become the new Hoover principal; Grace Basile is the new Roosevelt principal; Mary Ellen Carideo is the new Horace Mann Principal; and Dr. Margaret Adams is the new curriculum director.

On Monday, Taymore said that Marianne Farrell, Melrose High School assistant principal, will serve as the MHS principal over the summer until an interim principal is found and hired for the coming school year.

To find a long-term principal, Taymore said she's proposing to conduct a survey of Melrose High School staff and the community as a whole to see what they would want in a new principal; in the fall, hold focus groups to have small group conversation and feedback; and use the survey results and group feedback to re-write the high school principal's job description, with the tentative goal to post that position by Dec. 1.

Melrose Schools administration has been relatively stable for the past four years. The last time Melrose Public Schools faced this amount of turnover was from 2006-2008, when the city faced seven principal changes in under two years and other changes in the central office.

Check back at this article for additional updates as they become available.