SWAMPSCOTT — Lois Longin will stay on as interim principal of Stanley Elementary School for the upcoming school year while administrative officials reopen the search for a permanent principal.
Longin came on as interim principal on March 13 after Superintendent Pamela Angelakis opted not to renew the contract of Principal Shannon Daniels, formerly Tom, who came out as transgender in February.
“While the search committee was impressed with the qualifications and strengths of some of the candidates, by unanimous consensus, the principal search committee’s decision was to go with a veteran principal and reopen the search sometime in the fall of 2018 for the 2019-20 school year,” Angelakis said in a statement.
Longin retired in June 2016 after a 31-year career in the Swampscott Public Schools that included teaching K-2, serving as principal at Hadley Elementary School for nine years and Clarke Elementary School for seven years. She was district-wide administrator until she retired.
“A Swampscott native and product of Swampscott schools, she has a passion for education and a familiarity with our district,” Angelakis said in a statement.
Daniels, whose contract expires on June 30, has been on paid administrative leave.
The decision to not renew Daniels’ contract came in the wake of a parent-led petition that declared a lack of confidence in the Stanley principal, with parents saying the dissatisfaction with Daniels’ performance came before, and was not related to Daniels coming out as transgender.
The superintendent’s decision to part ways with Daniels came after a tumultuous period at Stanley Elementary School following Daniels’ announcement.
There was a police presence at the school for several days as a result of heightened media attention, along with phone calls, voicemails and emails to the school after Daniels’ announcement, but police felt nothing rose to the level of constituting a threat.
