By GAYLA CAWLEY
SWAMPSCOTT — Lori Sanborn, an eighth grade social studies teacher, is the next assistant Swampscott Middle School principal.
“She is a leader even among teachers,” said Superintendent Pamela Angelakis. “Her love for the students, her energy, enthusiasm and experience make her an asset to my leadership team.”
Sanborn, of Gloucester, has been an eighth grade social studies teacher for 13 years. She has worked at Swampscott Middle School since 2006. Prior to that, she taught in the same position at the Andrews Middle School in Medford.
“I have always known that I wanted to be an administrator at some point in my career,” Sanborn said in an e-mail. “The idea of being able to have an impact beyond my own classroom walls has always appealed to me. I have truly enjoyed every year that I have spent in the classroom as an eighth grade social studies teacher. However, the prospect of becoming the assistant principal at a school that I feel so connected to, and working with Jason Calichman, a person that I have a tremendous amount of respect for, is the opportunity that I have been waiting for.”
In March, Calichman, assistant principal of the middle school, was named interim principal for the next school year. The vacancy occurred because Robert Murphy, the former middle school principal, was appointed as the interim principal of Swampscott High School. Angelakis said she hopes they will apply for their respective positions after the school year. Each has said they intend to apply.
With Murphy’s appointment, Frank Kowalski, interim high school principal for the past school year, will return to his former role as assistant principal. Lytania Mackey will remain as high school assistant principal.
There was a vacancy at the high school because Edward Rozmiarek, former principal, resigned in 2015, after a Beverly police investigation revealed that he had a series of graphic Internet chats with someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl. The police report said he was actually corresponding with a decoy from a nonprofit group called the Perverted Justice Foundation.
Sanborn said she is unsure of whether she’ll apply for the position after the upcoming school year. She is looking forward to being a positive role model for all of the school’s students, rather than just the eighth-graders. But she sees the challenge in that as well.
“I think that my biggest challenge will be going from an environment where I could so easily get to know all 100 of my students on a personal level to trying to get to know about 750 students on that same level,” Sanborn wrote. “Another challenge will be balancing the needs of over 60 staff members, some of whom I’ve never really had the pleasure of working closely with.”
Gayla Cawley can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @GaylaCawley.