Lynn teacher makes leap to principal

LYNN – When school starts Sept. 3, students won’t be the only ones facing new challenges; Drewicz School Principal Patricia Hebert will be right there beside them.Hebert has won her first position as principal, replacing Bernadette Stamm, who retired in June.”I interviewed July 1 ? and they offered me the job July 2,” said Hebert, seated in a small conference room next to her office. “I met with (Stamm) on the third. It was quick.”Hebert was lucky that she had already scheduled a vacation for the following week so it gave her some time to absorb the fact that she was going to be an elementary school principal.”It’s funny, though, I interviewed teachers just to get their thoughts on what they want to see happen and what they expect from me and one asked me, ?Are you nervous?'” Hebert said. “I said, ?No, not at all.'”That might be because she had a good teacher in Ingalls School Principal Irene Cowdell. Hebert worked at the school as a CIT then a program specialist. She said the toughest part of her new job thus far has been finding her way around the building. Although she’s been in Lynn for 14 years somehow she has never been in the Drewicz School, she said.”It’s like a maze,” she said with a laugh. “As for the other stuff, I’ve done it all at Ingalls. I was really lucky to work with Irene.”Hebert said Cowdell shared with her all aspects of the job so she knew what to expect. That isn’t to say she hasn’t reached out to her fellow principals for help. Hebert said once it was announced that she would replace Stamm, she received emails of support from all the other principals offering help if she needed it.”And I’ve taken some of them up on it,” she said.Hebert got her start in the Lynn Public School system almost by accident. After graduating college in 1997 but failing to find a job in Massachusetts, she headed south where she quickly learned “they’re starving for teachers.”She was offered a position pretty much everywhere she applied but fell in love with a little brick schoolhouse in Winter Park, Fla., she said. Feeling homesick after a few years, she cast her net again in the Bay State but came up empty and this time took a job in North Carolina.”I was slowly working my way back,” she said.The next year she ended up in Methuen, her hometown, teaching at a private school and enrolling for her master’s. While writing a paper on full-service schools, Hebert said a teacher at Salem State University urged her to speak with Ford School Principal Claire Crane. She said she was told that Crane was doing wonderful things and had turned the school around. Hebert said she ended up spending the day with Crane, “and that night she called and offered me a job teaching seventh grade math.””I was so grateful to her for giving me that chance,” she said.Hebert said she fell in love with the district and all it had to offer. She stayed on at the Ford School teaching eighth grade math, then on the fifth and sixth grade level and even taught first grade, which she called a bit of a culture shock.”But I loved it,” she said.When that position was eliminated she found there were no jobs left at Ford, but she ended up at Ingalls, where she taught English Language Arts under then-principal Kimberly Powers.She was pleasantly surprised to find after speaking with a number of Drewicz teachers that they are already working on programs that mesh with Hebert’s vision for the school, which is essentially is to do whatever they need to do to make sure kids are successful.With the start of a new year just a week away, Hebert said the teachers are already in their classrooms working, “which shows me how dedicated they are,” and she is tweaking schedules and hoping for a calm first day.”I’m excited,” she said. “I really am. We’re in a good place.”