Parents Describe Ousted Tewksbury Principal As Caring, Dedicated

TEWKSBURY, MA -- Parents of students at Trahan Elementary School in Tewksbury say they were shocked when they received an email from Principal Matthew Castonguay earlier this month saying he was resigning at the end of the year. But they were even more shocked when they realized that Mr. C -- as he is commonly referred to by both parents and students -- was not coming back because the Tewksbury School Department did not renew his contract.

"As with all personnel issues of our employees it would not be appropriate for me to comment on any such issues," Tewksbury Superintendent Christopher Malone said in an email to Patch Friday afternoon.

Castonguay and all five members of the elected school committee did not respond to a request from Patch for comment on Thursday, one day after a group of about 20 parents and teachers went to the committee's meeting to ask for a more detailed explanation.

"Mr. C is well liked by both parents and teachers and we wanted to do our best to make it known how much good he has done for the Trahan community," said Loren Kullman-Stewart, one of the parents who spoke at Wednesday's meeting. "We wanted to make it clear that the decision not to renew the contract of Mr. Castonguay was not supported by the parents or staff at the Trahan Elementary School."

Castonguay was named interim principal of the school at the start of the 2014-15 school year and named the permanent principal in February 2015. His tenure has been marked by steady improvement in most areas analyzed on state standardized tests that measure school performance. Kullman-Stewart, who volunteers at Trahan, said beyond the test scores, Castonguay had improved the school's morale and atmosphere.

In prepared comments to the school committee on Wednesday, Kullman-Stewart said Malone should have solicited parent input before making the decision to not renew his contract.

"I am disappointed with the decision of Superintendent Malone not to solicit feedback from parents of Trahan students or school staff before making the decision not to renew Mr. Castonguay’s contract. I understand that some of these matters are confidential, but other matters would benefit from the feedback of the stakeholder," she said. "As someone who is invested in the welfare and success of the Trahan Elementary School and its students, including administrators, teachers, other staff members, parents and families and as a tax payers and registered voter, I ask this committee to at least have a conversation about the effects of this type of decision."

Another Trahan parent, Renee Viens, said that in a district where students change schools every two years, her son had benefited from the consistency of Castonguay. She said Castonguay had made a point of creating a culture where every student was treated as an individual.

"It's just hard to have this change, and have it so late in the school year without any real explanation," she said. "There were people who thought he was tough, but everyone knew he was approaching it from a position where he always put students first."

At Wednesday's meeting, committee members declined to speak on the issue because it is a personnel matter. After Kullman-Stewart read her statement, Chair Krissy M. Polimeno asked if the other people waiting in line behind her were going to speak on the same topic.

"When I said probably similar, she suggested that we only select a few key people to talk," Kullman-Stewart said. "But every family is different and each story should have been heard but it was clear that they had other matters to deal with and we needed to move on."

Only four other parents were permitted to speak after Kullman-Stewart, and Polimeno asked them to keep their comments to two minutes -- even though the committee's own agenda asks speakers in the public comment portion of the meeting to limit their comments to five minutes.

The school committee has not signaled how it will fill the position. Schools typically conduct searches for principals in the winter months, and many qualified candidates have already accepted positions. A national teacher shortage as well as growths in enrollment are making it harder to fill administrative positions, according to a study by the Learning Policy Institute. The national need for principals is expected to grow by 6% by 2022.

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Patch file photo of Tewksbury Superintendent Christopher Malone.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).