District hires three principals

By COURTNEY LAMDIN | Staff Writer
courtney@miltonindependent.com

Milton School District hired three new principals, one a familiar face, to start July 1, superintendent Marty Waldron said.

Current assistant principal Mary Jane Stinson will step up to the grades 3-5 principal role, while new hires Wendy Savery and Jacqueline Gale will fill the kindergarten-grade 2 and grades 6-8 principal roles, respectively.

Wendy Savery

If Wendy Savery’s name sounds familiar, maybe you’ve seen it on a banner on Milton’s Hometown Sears building – her family owns the business, and when she’s not working in education, she’s helping at the store.

Savery, who is finishing out her second year as Rutland Central Supervisory Union’s superintendent, will start as Milton Elementary’s K-2 principal next month. Her varied résumé includes stints as director of student services, special educator and high school social studies teacher.

Savery’s 2-year-old grandson inspired her to get out of the central office and back into everyday interactions with kids, she said.

“That’s been missing in my life for the last few years, and I’m really excited about that opportunity,” Savery said.

Savery is looking forward to helping kids engage in learning, she said; she plans to do this by promoting technology to support different learning styles and looking at ways to make community connections with recreation programs or preschools.

Still, Savery said she doesn’t have an agenda her first year besides getting to know parents and students and stressing communication and dialogue. Her family aims to move from Middlebury to Milton, and she’s looking forward to being embedded in the community, she said.

“It’s not just a job and you leave at the end of the day,” Savery said. “Some people want that separation; I’m actually at a point in my life where I want to embrace it.”

For now, Savery just wants parents to know they’re welcome to stop by school or the store to talk about what they like and want to change.

“Don’t be afraid to knock on my door,” Savery said. “It will always be open.”

Jacqueline Gale

Along with a big smile, Jacqueline Gale will bring a bicycle when she starts work as the middle school principal, ferrying back and forth from Herrick Ave. to Rebecca Lander Drive.

“I’m not quite sure how I’m going to stretch myself in two places, but we’re going to communicate and figure it out together,” she said, adding, “To have everybody all together is critical for a sense of belonging.”

Gale hopes her bike rides will only last one year, after which the School Board has discussed implementing a merger of grades 6, 7 and 8 at the Herrick Ave. elementary school.

Gale already has ties to Milton: In 2007, she supervised University of Vermont student-teachers at Milton Middle School and said the students were welcoming, even to her unfamiliar face.

“One day I had a student yell to me in the parking lot, ‘Goodbye, Miss Gale!” she said. “Having come from the classroom, I missed that. That was awesome, and so I got real good sense that Milton is a community that cares.”

Gale, a Johnson resident who recently finished a fellowship at UVM, also worked as a middle school teacher at Peoples Academy in Morrisville and Crossett Brook Middle School in Duxbury.

She’s excited to lead middle school students, which she described as energetic, enthusiastic and curious.

“It’s just a wonderful, wonderful age,” Gale said. “It’s an opportunity to help them discover who they are, what their strengths are.”

Gale wants to spend her first year building relationships with students and promoting their voice, which she said is just as important as the education side of school.

“The academics are critical, but who they are as a person and what they are feeling a passion for and excitement about in and out of school is important to celebrate, too,” Gale said.

Mary Jane Stinson

While Mary Jane Stinson isn’t exactly a “new” administrator, this role will be her first full principal gig.

Stinson has served as one of MES’ assistant principals for three years, focusing on grades 3-6. The School Board adopted a new principal structure that eliminated assistant principal roles at MES, and Stinson decided to apply for her new position to further her career, she said.

Stinson’s role will give her more voice in discussions about budget and vision, she said.

“I’ve been a part of those leadership conversations, but now I’ll be certainly more involved,” she said.

While Stinson is prepared to help transition the new staff for all grade levels, she is looking forward to focusing on grades 3-5, an age group she’s familiar with, she said.

“They’re kind of like an open slate but with a little independence,” Stinson said. “They’re willing to try new things.”

Stinson thinks the new principal structure will allow the district to meet students’ developmental needs. She’s excited to push the bounds of her students’ thinking “through problem-solving opportunities that they’re just so ready for at that age group,” she said.

Stinson is happy to continue working with faculty, staff and students in the district, she said.

“It’s a great community to work in, great community to live in,” she said. “It’s an exciting place to be. I think we’re on the cusp of great work.”