Newton North High School parents got this note from Principal Jennifer Price today:
Dear North Community:
As I hope you know, I love Newton North and have been honored to serve as Principal for the last 8 ½ years. Yet, I have reached a point in my career where it makes sense for me to think about leading a district. As a result, I decided to apply to a small number of Superintendent positions this fall, and will be named as one of several finalist in a few districts over the next week.
Given Massachusetts open meeting law, my name will be made public even though the interview process is still in progress. I will inform you immediately if I am going to be named as a Superintendent. In any case, the position would not begin until July 1st.
Please know that my heart is struggling with all of this, even if my head is telling me that this exploration makes sense professionally. Thank you, as always, for your support. I can personally tell you that it means so much.
Best,
Jennifer Price
As a parent, I appreciate hearing this way rather than through another district’s public search process. The upshot is we may be looking for a new principal soon.
I am not surprised that other districts are interested in Jennifer Price… she has done a tremendous job here in Newton and we’ve been lucky to have her this long.
We should have gotten rid of our Plagiarist Superintendent this summer and put her in that position. This is a HUGE loss for Newton and NNHS if she moves on. But I understand the need for her to move on to a bigger position.
Which ever community gets her will be very lucky to have someone of her caliber leading their community.
I can only echo what Joanne and Emily have already said. Jen Price is an incredible educator. As the daughter of a high school principal and the mother of a fairly recent NNHS alum, I am so impressed with her skill, intelligence, energy and creativity. The NNHS community will miss her! She will be snapped up!
@Native: I hope you meant to “echo’ the nice things Joanne was saying about Jen Price and not the mean spirited part about “our Plagiarist Superintendent” which only manages undignify the compliment.
Although I knew both of her recent predecessors very well, Jen Price was the only principal my kids ever had at Newton North (old and new). I am very happy for her and at the same time very sad for Newton. Some other community will no doubt be very lucky to have her. My sincere best wishes to Jen in her future endeavors.
This is a big loss for Newton and I wish her all the best.
Actually Greg – It is the Truth. He is a Plagiarist. And if the SC had any guts they would have fired him this summer and I am sure during their search would have found out that they had a Gem in Jen Price. And like when they hired Jim Marini there were have been very little learning curve for the community or the position or our school system.
I am also sure we will be seeing her on the short list for a few local communities this week. Lexington, Natick and Waltham come to mind. And unfortunately we are stuck with a plagiarist.
I know Greg – sometimes you dont like it when bloggers post the truth and not the Newton PC babble that you so adore.
@Joanne: If being respectful to what someone has accomplished on her own terms is “Newton PC babble,” then guilty as charged.
Well, it’s a big potential loss, Tom- she’s not gone yet- but agree that it is likely she will be in demand. (My son is a North student).
I happen to agree with Joanne that David Fleishman has proven himself to be a plagiarist. Sadly, the children of Newton have no say in who we appoint into leadership roles in our public education system. As if it wasn’t embarrassing enough that we replaced our 2nd youngest public building with a $193 million structure of bonded-indebtedness over and above many older and equally fading public buildings the elected representatives on School Committee including the Mayor don’t seem to value “living” what we teach (not plagiarizing). Perhaps the embarrassment was just to much for the SC to bear, that being letting go of a $250K plus per year Superintendent who plagiarizes in Newton!
Finding it necessary to chastise Joanne and others on blogs make the insulter (Greg) just come off as a mean-spirited fellow (again).
I have to agree with Joanne and Janet’s observations about our $272K plus per year plagiarist Superintendent.
For $272K plus per year, can we find a Superintendent that doesn’t plagiarize and who will end Newton’s participation in the wretched “Common Core” educational programme?
http://pioneerinstitute.org/common-core/
Joshua, when you were sticking to the superintendent being an admitted plagiarist I was thinking, although it was stated in a crass manner, it is true. Then you blew it with your common core source.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pioneer_Institute_for_Public_Policy_Research
The Common Core is not a local initiative. It was adopted by the State.
Jane and Marti, Massachusetts should never have adopted Common Core and neither should have Newton or any other Massachusetts community.
IMHO, I think MCAS resulted in too much centralization of educational power and control at the state level. After seeing what Common Core is about, I’m nostalgic for MCAS.
http://repealcommoncorenow.com/
As for The Pioneer Institute being a “think tank” that is “committed to individual freedom and responsibility, limited and accountable government, and the application of free market principles to state and local policy”. It houses and runs the Center for School Reform, the Shamie Center for Better Government, and the Center for Economic Opportunity, what exactly is the problem here?
I haven’t forgotten what Jennifer Price did to that graduate of NNHS at a football game. Maybe she’s as guilty as some people think police are of racial profiling.
The whole incident was hushed up, just like the plagiarism of the Superintendent. I guess we need to do some soul-searching in Newton about values, and why we protect the people we do.