CAES principal resigns, search for replacement under way

By Gloria Dufield
©2015-Telegraph Publishing LLC

Chester-Andover Elementary Principal Sherri Nichols has resigned her post after two years on the job. The CAES Board of Directors formally accepted her letter of resignation in May.

CAES Principal Sherri Nichols, left, and Two Rivers Supervisory Union finance officer Christopher Adams. Photo by Gloria Dufield.

CAES Principal Sherri Nichols, left, and Two Rivers Supervisory Union finance officer Christopher Adams. Photo by Gloria Dufield.

She will become curriculum and staff development coordinator in the Addison-Rutland Supervisory Union, replacing Brooke Olsen-Farrell.

Her salary will be $84,002, up from $76,000 as CAES principal. Nichols told The Telegraph in an interview that her work at Addison-Rutland will be more in line with the doctorate that she is pursuing through the University of Phoenix.

At the school board meeting on Monday, June 8, she thanked the board members and school officials and said she had been “humbled by their continued support” throughout her tenure.  Board chair Marilyn Mahusky wished her well and thanking her for all her work.

Also at the school board meeting, Two Rivers Supervisory Union Associate Superintendent Linda Waite said the principal search committee had met several times and was finishing up the second round of interviews.

Although it was not prepared to make a recommendation, Waite said, it did anticipate that a special board meeting would be held within a few weeks with a recommendation.

In light of this meeting and summer vacations, it was decided that the next scheduled school board meeting in July would not be held.

In an interview, Mahusky said that the school administration had moved quickly to post the opening on an online educational job site, School Spring,  that the search committee has been pleased with the quality of candidates and that it selected five for interviews. She said that before the first interview, one candidate dropped out and three had been chosen to move through to a second round of interviews. She said the search committee was composed of what she considered the “major stake holders” and was standard in the supervisory union, including two board members, the associate superintendent, two parents, a para-educator, the assistant to the principal and the school nurse.

The plan is to have a decision made by the end June on the replacement for Nichols but a recommendation from the search committee still needs to be sent to the superintendent, then moved onto the board for final acceptance. Asked if the resignation of Nichols came as a surprise, Mahusky said the board was unaware that she had been searching, but was also under the impression that this opportunity had fallen in Nichols’ lap.

According to the supervisory union, qualifications for the principal’s job include demonstrated successful teaching experience, leadership ability, skills in improving instruction and increasing student achievement, ability to plan, budget, organize and carry out initiatives and ability to communicate effectively with staff, administration and the community.

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About the Author: Gloria Dufield is a Green Mountain Union High School and University of Vermont graduate. She has more than 15 years of experience working in higher education libraries. Her most recent writing includes marketing projects for a Vermont GIS company as well as articles for a weekly publication.

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