I
am pleased to announce that last night, at the School Committee meeting,
Jennifer Henderson was appointed to the position of Interim Superintendent
effective July 1. This follows a vote
taken by the School Committee two weeks ago to move the search for the new
superintendent to the fall. This
unanimous decision of the School Committee allows for Ms. Henderson to act in
this interim role for a one-year period as the district completes its search
and hire of the new superintendent. In
addition, the School Committee voted to change her current role to Assistant
Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction effective immediately. While the opportunity to apply for the
permanent superintendent’s position is open to Ms. Henderson, after completing
the Interim superintendent role, she will move back into her Assistant
Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction role.
Ms.
Henderson has been an integral part of the leadership team in the district for
the past eight years and has honed her skills as an educator in a variety of
settings over her career. She received
her BA in Communications from Ohio Wesleyan University and her MS from the
University of Michigan. During the first
half of her career, she was a speech-language pathologist specializing in
cognitive rehabilitation of adolescents and adults who suffered traumatic head
injuries. During that time, she
co-authored the book Cognitive
Rehabilitation of the Head Injured Patient as well as the assessment The Scales of Cognitive Ability of the
Traumatic Brain Injured (SCATBI), published by Pro-Ed and still widely
sold today. As part of her research and
treatment of head injured adolescents, she traveled nationally to provide
education and training to rehabilitation professionals. She was the Director of the Speech, Hearing
and Language Center at Morton Hospital and Medical Center from 1986 – 1996, a
clinic specializing in pediatric outpatient speech , language and hearing
therapies as well as inpatient treatment of closed head injured adults.
Changing
careers but continuing her interest in cognitive development, she completed her
post graduate work at Bridgewater State University to obtain her educators
license, and she became a middle school teacher, grades 5-8 in social studies,
English and reading in Taunton, MA. She
was one of two district trainers in Standards Based Education during the years
1997 to 2004 and, along with a colleague, was asked to speak on Standards Based
Education and Backwards Design at the Harvard Graduate School in Education
Administration. She moved to the
position of principal of the H.H. Galligan Elementary School in Taunton in 2004
and remained in that position for three years. While there, the Galligan School
was the recipient of the state’s Compass School Award.
In
July 2007, she was named the principal at the John F. Kennedy Elementary School
in Canton where she established a strong working relationship with their
talented educators as they continued setting high expectations for all
students. She moved from that position
to Interim Director of Curriculum and Instruction in July 2010, followed by
Director, and has been in that position in Canton since that time. During her
five years as Canton’s Director for Curriculum and Instruction, she has been
instrumental in aligning the curriculum both horizontally and vertically,
implementing state mandated programming and providing a multi-year vision for the
provision of professional development to the faculty. She also manages the
Title 1 and Title II grants and assists with a variety of Human Resources
responsibilities including new educator orientation, licensing and mentoring. A
major focus for her during those years was support of the teachers with new
curriculum implementation as well as improved PD opportunities. Much of her
time has been spent on the development of an accurate student data management
and analysis system. Ms. Henderson
currently holds licenses for Asst. Superintendent/Superintendent,
Director/Supervisor Curriculum Non Core, Elementary and Middle School Principal
and English and Reading.
In
my five years as Superintendent, I have been able to work closely with Ms.
Henderson and have introduced her to many of the responsibilities that come
with this position. She has played an
integral part in helping develop the vision and goals for our district. She is a tireless worker, a dedicated
educator and a tremendous leader. She immerses
herself in all aspects of our educational community and has a strong working
relationship with staff and families across the district. I look forward to seeing the great work that
she and Canton’s tremendous educators and administrators will be able to
accomplish over the next year.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey
W. Granatino
Superintendent