Ex-Salem High Principal Up For Peabody Job

PEABODY, MA — Former Salem High School principal Jennifer Destefano is one of four finalists for the principal's job at Peabody Veterans Memorial High School. Peabody Mayor Ted Bettencourt and Superintendent Cara Murtagh will conduct 45-minute interviews with the candidates Thursday. The opening was created last month when Eric Buckley unexpectedly resigned after six years on the job.

DeStefano resigned as principal of Salem High School on March 13, less than a year after taking the job in July 2018. She has told the Salem News she did not feel supported by administrators as she tried to turn around the struggling school. "Working under those conditions any longer wasn't the right thing to do. It was clear that it wasn't going to work out," she said.

The fallout from her resignation led to the resignation of her interim replacement and the school system's superintendent.

The other candidates for the Peabody opening include Nathan Lamar, the academic program coordinator at Northeast Metropolitan Technical High School in Wakefield, Beverly Middle School Principal Matthew Poska, and North Andover High School assistant principal Brooke Randall. Randall was previously dean of students at Peabody High.

The interviews are open to the public and begin at 7 p.m. Thursday.