AMHERST — A search for a new principal for Amherst Regional Middle School has yielded three finalists, including the dean of students at the school.
Meantime, a Boxborough assistant principal has been named the next principal at Pelham Elementary School, replacing Lisa Dejarlais.
For the middle school position, held by interim co-principals Joseph Smith and Rebecca Sweetman since 2018, Diego Sharon, Jason Hynek and Jennifer Sauter are the finalists. The middle school has not had a permanent principal since Marisa Mendonsa resigned from the position in May 2016.
Sharon, who has more than 25 years of experience in the classroom, has been the dean of students at the middle school for the past year, during which he helped to establish a restorative justice-based discipline model and supported teachers and administrators in the development and maintenance of a safe and positive school environment, according to his resume.
Hynek, who has spent 17 years in the educational field, is interim principal at North Brookfield Senior/Junior High School and before that served two years as site administrator at Springfield Alternative High School.
Sauter, who has been in the education field since 1994, is the education director at ARCHway Inc. in Leicester, a state-approved special education school program.
In Pelham, Leigh Whiting-Jones, assistant principal at Blanchard Memorial School in Boxborough for the past two years, was selected and will start July 1.
Whiting-Jones previously taught first and fifth grades in the Newton and Winchester public schools and before her education career worked for a variety of social justice organizations.
In a biography posted to the Blanchard school website, Whiting-Jones describes bringing an approach to discipline that is rooted in restorative practices, holding relationships at the center of conversations about student behavior.
Other finalists for the position were Bobbie French, principal at South Street Elementary School in Fitchburg since July 2019, Christine Mullen, principal at Warwick Community School since August 2019, and Laura Tiktin-Sharick, assistant principal at PS 24, 428 38th St. in Brooklyn, New York, since August 2018.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
