Constantino takes reins at Lynn Classical

LYNN – Classical High School Vice Principal Eugene Constantino will be the school’s next principal, Superintendent Catherine Latham announced Thursday, one day after conducting interviews for the position.A 32-year veteran of the Lynn Public Schools, Constantino has worked at Classical for 27 years as a special education teacher, guidance counselor, and for the past three years, vice principal. He is also well known in the community from his 19-year stint as the school’s varsity girls’ basketball coach.After hearing interviews by Constantino, fellow Vice Principal Richard Sackowich, Classical Freshman Academy Principal Judith Taylor and Beverly’s Briscoe Middle School Principal Matthew Poska, Latham took little time to settle on a candidate she believed interviewed the best and displayed a clear vision for the future of Classical.”I am thrilled and I think Gene is the right choice for the school at this time,” Latham said Thursday. “He interviewed well, his resume is excellent. He has experience in guidance, special ed, he has a good knowledge of how we use data and he has spent time in the school administration as well. I think he is going to make a wonderful principal.”While Latham made her decision less than 24 hours after the interview, she said the choice was not an easy one. She said all four candidates demonstrated attributes she was looking for when filling the position and all four were well known to Latham and members of the selection committee.”We had four very, very good candidates,” she said. “And I think all four interviewed well and would have been good choices. But I just feel Gene has an intimate knowledge of what a high school needs moving forward and we are fortunate to have him in our system.”A popular figure among students and faculty, Constantino, a Peabody resident, made no secret of his love for the school and his burning desire to become principal during his interview, and displayed a quiet confidence upon hearing the news of his hire Thursday.”I am ecstatic. This position is one that has seen some great principals, many of whom I have worked under, and I just feel honored that Dr. Latham thinks that I am the right person to do the job,” he said. “We have been going forward here in a good direction and we have had a lot of great academic honors here and I just can’t say enough about the job that (retiring Principal Warren White) has done here in the last five years, and the same goes for (former principals William Frost and Nicholas Kostan). I have a lot to live up to.”One of the things Constantino made very clear in his interview was his desire to hold the principal position for an extended period of time, and he says he has already outlined a list of goals he will share with the superintendent, department heads and teachers.”I have outlined a plan that I am going to discuss with Dr. Latham and we are obviously going to be facing some budgetary challenges moving forward,” he said. “So I want to meet with department heads and go over the district plan and after that I want to meet with teachers. The teachers that have been here and know me have been very supportive and we have some new teachers coming in that I would like to meet with and make sure everyone is on the same page.”Constantino will also be meeting this week to discuss the makeup of his administration, which could feature both Sackowich and Taylor.Aside from filling his former position, Constantino must fill his social studies and English department head positions before school begins in September.