Swamscott Schools' Interim Principals Made Permanent

SWAMPSCOTT, MA – Superintendent of Schools Pamela R. H. Angelakis read the following statement at Wednesday night’s School Committee meeting regarding the Swampscott High School principal search:

"Last year at this time, I appointed Robert Murphy as Interim Principal of Swampscott High School and Jason Calichman as Interim Principal of the Swampscott Middle School. In making those appointments, I indicated my intention was to post the permanent positions during this school year.

After having the opportunity to observe and evaluate the performance of Mr. Murphy and Mr. Calichman for a full year, I have decided to forego a formal search and remove the interim label from their titles, effective immediately.

Mr. Murphy and Mr. Calichman have done an outstanding job in their respective buildings. They have demonstrated an extremely high level of student-centered leadership as well as the ability to make difficult decisions. They are highly engaged with their school communities and have exhibited the ability and commitment necessary to implement their vision for their schools.

Through personal observation and overwhelmingly positive feedback from students, teachers and staff, it is clear to me that Mr. Murphy and Mr. Calichman are the right leaders at their schools and for our district. They have exhibited an understanding of the critical need to balance academic achievement with the social-emotional well-being of students, which has proven to be a high priority in our district. They have changed the culture in their schools to further emphasize the importance of educating the whole child.

While taking this action may appear to conflict with the intentions I stated a year ago, I am doing so because I firmly believe it is in the best interests of not only Swampscott High School and Swampscott Middle School, but also our district as a whole. I do not see the wisdom of asking SPS staff, parents, students and community members to invest an extensive amount of time in conducting searches when I am confident we already have the right people in place. I do not question the possibility that a search could produce different results, but that does not mean they would be better results for these two schools.

Frankly, the primary motivation for launching a search process at this point would be simply to follow through on comments I made one year ago, and that is not a good reason to do it. When I appointed Mr. Murphy and Mr. Calichman, I was confident in their ability to do the job, but they have both exceeded all reasonable expectations. And while they may be relatively new to their roles and have an opportunity to further grow into them, their performance has convinced me that they should be leading these schools into the future."

Image via Shutterstock