The End Of An Era At Bishop Brady High School As Elliot Retires

CONCORD, NH — It is the end of an era at Bishop Brady High School as longtime principal and educator, Andrea Isaak Elliot, is retiring.

Elliot has been the principal, as well as a teacher at the school, for more than a dozen years. She’s been in education for more than four decades.

Elliot entered the field first as a school guidance counselor. She attended UNH and worked full-time at the youth development center, conducting psychological testing in its intake program. After receiving her master’s degree, Elliot was convinced by Mike Morgan, a former superintendent, to get into administration. She was not sure, since she really enjoyed being in the classroom and did not want to sit in an office, but after receiving her certification, she became an academic dean in Dover for five years. Elliot moved to Salem for a year, working as a dean of students. She then moved to Concord, where she was an assistant principal for a few years.

After her mother became ill, Elliot took a year off, then applied for the job at Brady and was hired.

During the past five years or so, she considered retiring. But instead, stayed on, through coronavirus and Brady’s accreditation.

At Brady, Elliot immersed herself in the job. She has not phoned it in, she said. Some weeks, it is seven days; others, it is five days and five nights. During the annual fish fry fundraiser, for example, Elliot was at the school every day that week and on five of the six Friday nights, too. Sixty-plus-hour weeks, she said, are the norm, and difficult to keep up these days. At just shy of 70, with a slew of grandkids running around, at some point, Elliot realized it was time to step down.

And, like everything, all good things must come to an end.

“Being at Brady has been a tremendous experience for me,” she said. “I love this community, and I love the faculty, and the kids, but it's… the way I've done this job, it is a lot of work. Now, somebody else could walk in here and work 40 hours a week and be fine with it. But it's just part of my personality to just jump in with both feet and want to be part of everything.”

Elliot said her family has taken a back seat to the job — something that seemed a tad painful to admit.

In March, during her birthday, the entire family came together to celebrate with her, and she found it joyous.

“One of the things I haven’t done is spend enough time with them,” Elliot said.

While she had been attending Bishop Brady events as part of her job and making sure she was present in the school community, she missed most of her two grandchildren’s hockey games.

An avid puzzle maker, she lamented that one 1,500-piece puzzle she started in October 2025 remains unfinished.

Although she readily admitted she might still work at something, presuming she could get a bit stir crazy in retirement. When asked whether she might write a book, she said family members had suggested it. There are always good stories to tell with education, Elliot said.

While serving as principal, she also taught a public speaking class at the school. She took it on after a teacher left, and no one else wanted the responsibility. However, she thought it was important to keep it as a school elective. Since she taught it before, Elliot kept it for herself.

“That was seven years ago,” she laughed. “But it is a highlight of my day to see kids in a different way than I normally do (as principal). I will miss that the most.”

Elliot said teaching a course, too, kept her in touch with what the students were going through, as well as with the educators, who teach five or six classes. The speech class students, about a dozen kids, have eight speeches to give. The school was also able to secure dual-enrollment credit with Southern New Hampshire University for kids who took speech classes, she said. Elliot is also an adjunct professor there, she said.

“I teach it a little different than some people do,” she said. “I don't make them memorize their speeches… just to get up there. I want them to be comfortable in whatever role they have. And build some confidence and be able to have a voice. I really will miss teaching that class.”

Elliot said she will also miss her colleagues at the school, calling the school community dedicated and hardworking.

Elliot said, too, the curriculum at the school of only a few hundred was impressive, including 13 Advanced Placement classes, 15 dual-enrollment classes, opportunities to participate in the Concord Regional Technical Center, and independent study and personal learning opportunities. The students, like students at many schools today, are involved in numerous community volunteer activities. The students, she added, were the biggest boosters of the school. While Brady is a Catholic school, only half the students are Catholic, she said.

Elliot is a bit concerned about student resiliency compared to past generations — and it was noticeable, too. She admitted, though, the world is a different place than it was in the past, and so is parenting. The kids may be hard workers, but they are more fragile now, Elliot said.

One thing she won’t miss?

Getting up at 4:30 a.m. to make the snow day calls. Receiving alarm calls in the building on a Sunday night. Or when a major function, like a boiler malfunction, the Internet, or electricity, goes out, she said.

When she was first hired at Brady, she only had one goal: “To make good humans.”

She added, “If you do that, everything else just happens… everything falls into place. Those good kids care for each other. They are kind to each other and other people.”

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