By ANDREW MARTIN
Although he has been the acting Chariho Regional Middle School principal for four months, Gregory Zenion’s new role becomes official on July 1.
The School Committee voted unanimously on May 27 to appoint Zenion to his new position. And he was welcomed with open arms and plenty of praise.
“I met Greg a long time ago and I think it’s a wonderful appointment,” committee member Andrew Polouski said.
He continued to say that while the committee will never fill former principal and current assistant superintendent Carol Blanchette’s shoes, “We came close with Greg.”
Committee member Andrew McQuaide echoed those sentiments. “I’ve been impressed with all of my dealings with
Mr. Zenion and I have no doubts that he’s the right man for the position,” McQuaide said. The room was filled with applause seconds later after the board approved the appointment.
Zenion said he was honored and thrilled that night. “I look forward to meeting the needs of the district and working to meet the needs of the community,” he added.
The 38-year-old educator began his career 12 years ago while living right outside of New York City in New Jersey.
“I spent my first four years teaching in South Bronx,” Zenion said. Then he and his wife, who is a Rhode Island native, headed for the Ocean State.
After a two-year teaching stint in Jamestown, Zenion taught for a year at Charlestown Elementary. His next stop was Cumberland, where he was a principal for two years. The couple finally settled in Hopkinton and Zenion has been involved at the middle school for three years now.
Zenion started his Chariho tenure as the assistant principal, which left him in charge of teaching and learning. He handled all of the curriculum issues and worked to maintain high quality teaching and lesson plans. “I worked with teachers to make sure the learning is taking place,” he explained.
Examples of Zenion’s curriculum work include the highly capable programs and three new pilot courses – Spanish, French and Film Study for eighth-grade students. Those new programs are the first of their kind in years for the middle school.
Although his new position will leave him with less time to focus on curriculum work, Zenion plans on staying involved. “A large part of that work will remain, because when I worked under Carol Blanchette, we shared a lot of the work,” he said.
In particular, Zenion wants to see an increase in the New England Common Assessment Program, or NECAP, math scores. The school’s performance on the writing section of the standard tests has seen great gains, he said, through intensive reading programs. Continuing that trend is another of Zenion’s goals.
The new principal’s duties will include working on the budget more than before as well as spending more time with personnel issues. Zenion will also be more of a direct link to parents, who he said prefer speaking with the principal rather than the assistant. Public communication will become a bigger piece of his job, he added. Zenion expects his strong relationship with the staff to continue. “I’m very fortunate to have such an excellent staff,” he said.
The same goes for Zenion’s rapport with the students. He makes sure to walk through the halls more than once a day to make his presence known and to build connections. “They don’t see me as a disciplinarian,” he said, adding that most disciplinary actions are handled by the school’s deans.
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