NORTHAMPTON — Beth Choquette, who has been principal of Bridge Street School since 2012, may soon depart from the district for a job in Berkshire County. She was recently named a finalist for the next superintendent of Adams-Cheshire Regional School District.
Choquette grew up in North Adams and has been living in Cheshire for the past few years. She’s had aspirations to become a superintendent, her biography on the Northampton Schools website said.
“I care because not only is this home for me and where my youngest son attends school, but because the students, teachers, families, and community members of both Adams and Cheshire deserve a leader who is going to stick around,” she said in an email to the Gazette explaining why she was interested in the Berkshire County job. “They deserve to have someone who is committed to seeing things through and someone who is in it for the long haul.”
Previously, Choquette worked as an elementary music teacher and later became the principal of a K-8 school in Vermont, the biography said.
The Adams-Cheshire Regional School Committee hopes to have the next district leader in place by September, the Berkshire Eagle reported Monday. Northampton Schools are preparing for her potential departure.
“I have contacted retired elementary principals I know from my work in previous districts,” Superintendent John Provost wrote in a letter Tuesday to the school community. “If it becomes necessary to conduct a principal search, I will appoint one of them as interim principal.”
The Northampton district has recently seen turnover in administrators across several schools. This summer, Bryan Lombardi left his position as principal of Northampton High School and Sal Canata left his position of principal of Leeds Elementary. Gwen Agna, longtime principal of Jackson Street School, has announced that she will be retiring at the end of the coming school year.
If Choquette leaves, Provost said in his letter that the search for her replacement would be done in collaboration with the search for a new principal for Jackson Street School.
Greta Jochem can be reached at gjochem@gazettenet.com.