Wilson Elementary Principal To Retire

Wilson Elementary School Principal Robin Welch will retire at the end of the school year.

Earlier in the school year, Fuller Middle School principal Juan Rodriguez announced he would retire at the end of the school year, too.

Framingham Public Schools is in the process of searching for a new principal for both schools. Superintendent of Schools Stacy Scott said he hopes to name replacements by the April break.

In 1999, Welch was named principal of Woodrow Wilson Elementary School.

In 2005, Welch was named the Thomas C. Passios Outstanding Principal of the Year.

Welch started his education career as a classroom teacher in Brookline in 1977. In 1987, he became Vice Principal of the John D. Runkle Elementary School in Brookline. He served as an elementary principal in Milton and Wayland, before coming to the Framingham Public Schools district.

With Welch leaving, all of Framingham's eight elementary school principals will have been in their jobs for less than 5 years.

• In 2009, Framingham hired three new elementary school principals. Paula Del Prete, at Potter Road Elementary, Kim Taylor at Dunning Elementary and William MacDonald in Stapleton Elementary.
• In 2010, Framingham hired three new elementary school principals. Matt Hanlon at McCarthy Elementary, Lucia Laguarda Karaptia at Hemenway Elementary and Susan McGilvray-Rivet at Barbieri Elementary.
• In 2011, Framingham named Frank Rothwell principal at Brophy Elementary.

Wilson Elementary School has been applying to be designated an International Baccalaureate (IB) school.

In Dec. 2011, John Maynard became Framingham Public Schools' first elementary assistant principal when he left Fuller Middle to take the assistant principal role at Wilson. At the time, Welch said his school need the additional administrative position due to its unique situation. (Since then, three more elementary schools have hired assistant principals and the rest of the elementary schools plan to do so by the 2013-14 school year.)

More than 75% of the students at the elementary school, located near the Sherborn line, English is not their first language.

The Wilson Elementary has been designated a level 3 school by the state.

In a recent state report, it was noted that Wilson was one of the lowest performing school in Framingham out of the 8 elementary schools. The state cited the need for the district to close the achievement gap.

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