PELHAM — Pelham Elementary School’s principal will be departing from the post after one year at the helm.
Leigh Whiting-Jones announced at the Pelham School Committee meeting Wednesday that an “unexpected event” will be taking her and her family to New York City for the fall.
Whiting-Jones, who previously served as assistant principal at Blanchard Memorial School in Boxborough for two years, told committee members that the school year was productive for students and staff despite the pandemic that forced most learning to be done remotely.
“All said and done, I think it’s been a pretty amazing year,” Whiting-Jones said, discussing how since most students returned in April there have been poems read each morning over the building’s intercom and Fridays have been used as the day students can dress up in creative ways.
Whiting-Jones also observed that sixth graders in a civic literacy project engaged in learning more about the indigenous artifacts found at the site of a now-paused roundabout in Northampton, participating in community organizing and speaking at public meetings.
Pelham School Committee Chairwoman Sarah Hall said Whiting-Jones’ departure is sad for the school.
The Amherst-Pelham school district has posted the vacancy as a one-year interim position with applications due by May 28. The ad describes Pelham as a 120-student school that is seeking a “proven leader who is a positive, collaborative, creative person who communicates well and inspires staff, students and community (and) is a progressive and innovative thinker, who is responsive to the needs of students and families and works proactively to support school staff.”
The district already has a search underway for a new Fort River Elementary principal in Amherst.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
