AMHERST — Two finalists to become the next principal at Amherst Regional Middle School will meet the community at virtual forums Tuesday, while Allison Estes, Wildwood School’s assistant principal, will assume the principalship at that elementary school July 1.
In a communication with parents and guardians this week, Superintendent Michael Morris announced that Gabrielle Jackson, resident principal and director of Academic Interventions at the Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership, and Tanya Brodd, superintendent and director of special education at Pointe Educational Services in Phoenix, Arizona, have been selected as finalists to succeed Diego Sharon, who announced over the winter that his third year at the helm of the middle school would be his last.
In a separate letter to Wildwood families, Morris wrote that Estes would take over for Nick Yaffe, who is retiring after serving as principal at Wildwood since fall 2010, and bringing to a close an education career in Amherst that included serving six years as the last principal at the town’s fourth elementary school, Mark’s Meadow School, and teaching there from 1990 to 2004.
For the middle school position, Morris cited an interview team that included staff members, families and representatives from the district office.
“Based on feedback from the interview team and the candidates’ strong qualifications, we are pleased to bring forward two finalists for the position,” he wrote.
Brodd and Jackson will meet with the community virtually and separately for an hour each beginning Tuesday at 5 p.m., via YouTube. Morris told the Regional School Committee that this will put the candidates on a level playing field.
A University of Akron graduate with a degree in political science, Jackson earned a masters of education in curriculum and instruction from Cleveland State University. She serves as chairwoman of the Hampden County Commission on the Status of Women and Girls and is a current member of the DESE’s Principal and Teacher Advisory Cabinet, and was named a DESE inSPIRED Fellow for 2019-2020.
An Arizona State University graduate with a degree in special education, Brodd earned masters of arts in special education and special education consultation and collaboration there, as well as a masters of education in the area of educational leadership from Northern Arizona University.
She was awarded the 2014 Rookie Team Lead Examiner of the Year Award from the Southwest Alliance of Excellence, an organization with the mission “to empower organizations to pursue performance excellence, improve outcomes and contribute to the economic strength of their community and state.”
When the new principal is hired, the leadership model will return to one that previously existed that will also include an assistant principal.
At Wildwood, Estes has been assistant principal since August 2018, after a year as fifth grade teacher, coming to Amherst after 16 years as special education teacher in Plymouth, New Hampshire.
“Given her outstanding qualifications, proven track record in an administrative role at Wildwood School, and the unanimously positive feedback from the interview team, we are advancing Ms. Estes as the sole finalist for the Wildwood Principal position,” Morris wrote.
Estes will meet with parents and families at Wildwood’s gymnasium at 5:30 p.m. Monday.
In the Morris email, Estes cited as her accomplishments creating a school where children and adults feel proud of their ability to face challenges and triumph, expanding best practice to teachers in data analysis, education technology and assessment development, and working within the greater community to build bridges of understanding between groups of varying ethnicities, abilities, cultures, and gender identities.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
