ITEM FILE PHOTO
Swampscott High School.
BY GAYLA CAWLEY
SWAMPSCOTT — Superintendent Pamela Angelakis continues to hire internal candidates to fill administration vacancies at Swampscott Middle and High School.
Angelakis said at Wednesday’s School Committee meeting that High School Interim Principal Frank Kowalski would return to his former role as assistant principal while Assistant Principal Lytania Mackey would remain in her position.
“Mr. Kowalski and Ms. Mackey are important members of my team,” Angelakis said in an email. “They have been working with our high school students for a long time and they are invested in our students both emotionally and academically.”
Previously, Angelakis considered the possibility of having only one assistant principal at the high school. But the controversy involving Edward Rozmiarek, the former high school principal, and the teacher evaluation process at the school made her rethink her decision.
Rozmiarek resigned in 2015, after a Beverly Police investigation revealed that he had a series of graphic Internet chats with someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl. The police report said that he was actually corresponding with a decoy from a nonprofit group called the Perverted Justice Foundation.
Angelakis appointed Kowalski as interim principal of the high school from January until June. He had served as the school’s assistant principal since 2010.
Mackey remained at her post as assistant principal over that same time period, where she has served since 2012. Previously, she had also spent a year as the high school’s Dean of Students and Curriculum. Before that, she was a science teacher.
Robert Murphy, principal of Swampscott Middle School, was appointed in March as the interim principal of the high school for the next school year.
Angelakis said the other factor that contributed to sticking with two assistant principals relates to the teacher evaluation process at the high school.
“Years ago, department chairs at the high school level had evaluative responsibilities,” Angelakis wrote in an email. “In this last contract, their teaching load was increased by one class and the evaluative duties were removed from their responsibilities. This makes it difficult to have only two administrators, who would be responsible for 85 or so evaluations of staff members without any assistance. We haven’t been able to reverse this change through the collective bargaining process thus far, this spring.”
Amy O’Connor, vice-chair of the school committee, said the decision to stick with Kowalski and Mackey is a good one.
“I am pleased that Lytania and Frank are staying through the changes and have agreed to stay at the school under Bob Murphy’s leadership,” O’Connor said. “I think it’s a testament to Bob’s leadership skills and their commitment to the community.”
Following the reshuffle, a vacancy remains to be filled at the middle school.
In March, Jason Calichman, assistant principal of the middle school, was upgraded to the school’s interim principal for the next school year.
Angelakis said she has gone internally to hire the middle school assistant principal. She said there are many teachers at the school who have administrative experience, but there was one person interested in the position. That female teacher will leave the classroom for a year, and that teaching position would be replaced for a year, she added.
The superintendent said she won’t name the hire until later this week, but was impressed by the teacher’s knowledge of the middle school and administrative experience. She is also excited by the candidate’s enthusiasm.
Angelakis plans to post the high school and middle school principal positions in December. But said she hopes Murphy and Calichman will apply. Filling the administrative positions following Rozmiarek’s departure is not something that came easy to her, she said.
“I’ve struggled with this plan for a really long time,” Angelakis said.
Kowalski and Mackey could not be reached for comment.
Gayla Cawley can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @GaylaCawley.
