SWAMPSCOTT — The search for a new principal for Swampscott High School will begin next fall, as Robert Murphy, who has been on medical leave since January, will not return to that position.
Superintendent Pamela Angelakis has announced that Murphy informed the district he does not plan to return to the principal position. He had been scheduled to return from medical leave last month.
“It’s a medical concern and (I’m) working with the district right now to sort that all out,” Murphy said.
He declined further comment.
Murphy’s tenure as principal of Swampscott High School started in July 2016, when he was appointed interim principal. His interim label was removed the following spring, when he was appointed as permanent principal of the high school.
Murphy moved into the high school position from the middle school, where he served as principal for four years.
Lawrence Murphy has been serving as interim principal of the high school since March 16, and has agreed to stay on until a permanent principal is in place. The 40-year educator served as principal of Swampscott High School from 2006 to 2009 and district-wide coordinator for a year, Angelakis said.
“I am grateful for his willingness to help the district through this period of transition,” Angelakis said in a statement.
The search for a new high school principal will begin after the start of the next school year.
Lawrence Murphy is the fourth principal to lead the high school in the past four years. Before Robert Murphy took the helm, former high school assistant principal Frank Kowalski served as interim principal from January through June 2016.
Kowalski was appointed interim principal after the resignation of former high school principal Edward Rozmiarek, who began his tenure in July 2013.
Rozmiarek resigned in December 2015 after a Beverly police investigation revealed that he had a series of graphic Internet chats who someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl. The police report revealed that he was actually corresponding with a decoy from a nonprofit group called The Perverted Justice Foundation.
