PEPPERELL– Varnum Brook Elementary School will welcome two new administrators this fall, Principal Tara Hanley and Assistant Principal Jill Jarvis.
“I am really excited about meeting new people and reestablishing relationships with people I have met already,” said Hanley.
She comes from Ruggles Lane School in Barre, where she held the same position for five years. Prior to that, Hanley was the assistant principal at Varnum Brook Elementary School. She said this new role is “like coming home.”
Jarvis oversaw special-education services in the North Middlesex School District before being hired for this position.
“I mostly met families and students through observation and had no direct interactions,” she said. “Now I get to go into classrooms and meet the children.”
She will be maintaining a portion of her last role as Evaluation Team Leader (ETL) but instead of focusing on the district, she will do that at the school.
“I am excited to be in a position where I have an opportunity be an agent of change,” she said. “I can positively impact the school.”
Both agree that a key focus this school year will be to bring more literacy into classrooms. To that end, teachers have an in-school literacy program training Aug. 25.
“We really want our professional development to be surrounded in literacy,” said Hanley.
Hanley believes that all schools in Massachusetts are facing the same challenges with incorporating the Common Core State Standards into their classrooms.
“It is a different way of looking at things,” she said. “There is more opportunity for critical-thinking. I’m very excited about seeing it through.”
Her biggest challenge, though, will not be curriculum-related, she said. The hardest part of the new job for Hanley will be learning the names of the 650 students.
Hanley and Jarvis encourage parents and residents to join them at Popsicles with the Principals meet and greet on Aug. 22, at 1 p.m. at Varnum Brook Elementary School.
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