Gandolf to Lead Maple Street School for the Rest of the Year

Lyn Gandolf was endorsed as the interim principal at Maple Street School by the Board of Education on Tuesday. 

She had been serving as a temporary replacement at the school for about three weeks after MSS Principal Pamela Barker-Jones first took a leave of absence and then resigned. 

Superintendent of Schools Mary Conway said that, when Barker-Jones took the leave, she reached out to Gandolf, a colleague of hers when they were both in the Plainville system, to "help out." Gandolf was both a teacher and administrator in Plainville, Conway said. 

"I called her at home and told her I needed her help," Conway said at Tuesday's school board meeting. "She was there the next day."

Conway said she and Gandolf have been meeting daily for mutual briefing sessions. They have been telling students she is the "substitute principal," a term Conway said the students can relate to with teachers.

Discussions between the two quickly turned to Gandolf serving out the balance of the school year and Gandolf agreed to do it with the board's blessing, Conway said. 

Conway said it was the logical thing to do. 

"She is experienced, and how much more transition can we put the staff through? The students too," Conway said. 

Gandolf seems popular already. During the public comment session on Tuesday, resident Burt Wheeler, who has four children at MSS, said she has already made a "positive" impact.