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Two Schools
Get New Principals

By Scott MacKeen
Staff Writer
4/8/10
Two elementary school principals will leave at the end of the school year, while another familiar face in the school system is being tapped for one of those spots.

Glover Elementary Principal Dr. Dore Korschun and Cunningham Elementary Principal Christine Gerber both plan to make this their final year on the job in Milton. Korschun has announced that she will retire after about 20 years serving in the Milton public schools (see related story on Page 10), while Gerber will become principal of the Kennedy Longfellow School in Cambridge.

Following screening and interviews of 40 applicants, School Superintendent Mary Gormley announced at last week’s School Committee meeting that Stephanie Nephew has been chosen to replace Korschun at Glover. Nephew has served the public schools in several capacities since 2001, currently as the humanities coordinator at Pierce Middle School.

“Obviously, I’m thrilled to be joining the Glover community,” Nephew told the Times in a phone interview. “I’m anxious to get back to the elementary level, where I really started my career.”

Nephew earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from William Smith College, her master’s degree in early childhood education and elementary education from Tufts University, and her Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in administration from the University of Massachusetts at Boston. She has taught at both the first- and third-grade levels.

In preparation for the upcoming school year, Nephew said she has sought advice from Korschun and plans to meet with the school staff and parents over the summer.

Meanwhile, Gerber is preparing to leave behind the elementary school she has led since 2007. Her successor has not yet been chosen.

Gormley also announced at last week’s School Committee meeting that the School Department has hired Holly Concannon as its new elementary math and technology coordinator.

Concannon, formerly an elementary schoolteacher in Dorchester and Roxbury, comes with high praise.

In 2003, she was named as Boston’s public school teacher of the year and was also a finalist for best teacher in the state.

“This was a huge hire. We feel privileged you’re here,” Gormley said as she introduced Concannon to the School Committee.

Concannon, who began working in Milton in January, said it has been her focus thus far to be a support to teachers and seek to improve classroom instruction “in every way I can.”

Saving Teachers

Also last week, the School Committee received some good news in its fiscal year 2011 budget outlook.

According to School Business Administrator Matt Gillis, the Warrant Committee recently voted to allocate an additional $56,000 in its FY 11 funding plan to the School Department, putting the total amount that would go to the schools at about $416,000 above the FY 10 level. Gillis said that amount allows the department to avoid any teacher layoffs.

Initially faced with the potential for no additional funding in its next budget, school officials introduced a plan that included about 24 School Department cuts, including seven teachers.

However, according to Warrant Committee Chair Tom Hurley, that scenario was proposed when the economics of the next year looked worse than they currently do.

“When we started the process of pulling together the FY 11 budget revenue from state aid was estimated at 10 percent less than state aid revenue for FY10. That was back in October when everything was looking very gloomy,” Hurley said in an e-mail to the Times. “Using that revenue projection, the amount available for departmental appropriations was about $400,000 below the amount provided in FY 10.”

According to Hurley, as town officials have tracked state revenues, the projections have gone up. The governor’s state budget proposal, for example, which was released in late February, gave Milton about $1 million more in state aid than in FY 10.

That amount by itself turned the town’s potential $400,000 budget gap into a $600,000 budget surplus, Hurley said.

In setting a balanced FY 11 budget proposal, the Warrant Committee allocated $360,000 of the surplus to the School Department, which would save six of the seven teaching positions up for elimination.

The $56,000 voted more recently – covering the final of the seven teaching spots to be lost – reflects a portion of what is expected to be cut from the town’s share of health and general insurance costs for FY 11, Hurley added.