Beach said that recognition given to the Koziol Elementary School for “increased performance of students in poverty” is one of the major recent successes during her tenure.
Mary Elizabeth BeachWARE – School superintendent Mary-Elizabeth Beach says that with other changes coming in the leadership of the school administration she is pleased to have a three-year extension for her own contract to help provide continuity.
The School Committee has voted to keep Beach on the job of running the town school system through 2015.
She is now in her fifth year in the position and has a year remaining in her current contract.
“I think it is always important for a school district to have continuity,” Beach said. “The high-school principal is retiring. The elementary-school principal is moving to the high school. We are hiring a new member of our leadership team.”
Beach said that recognition given to the Stanley M. Koziol Elementary School for what the state called “increased performance of students in poverty” was one of the major recent successes during her tenure and a reduction in the drop-out rate at Ware High School is also of great importance.
Looking ahead, Beach said, “We really want to strengthen the middle school, and we have plans for re-arranging some of the schedule and some of the offerings.”
“We put music back in the K-12 program in my first year and I certainly want to see that continue. We now have 50 students taking summer music lessons,” Beach said.
The School Committee’s contract with Beach calls for an annual salary of $136,777 and continues the practice of 3 percent pay raises each year.
In her two most recent years on the job, Beach agreed to reductions in hours and in pay to avoid making cuts elsewhere in the school budget.
She said she agreed to a 10-percent reduction in pay and hours in the most recent year and a 20-percent reduction the year before because she could not find alternative ways of saving enough money to keep certain programs functioning.
Beach, who has graduate degrees from the University of Vermont, worked in school systems in Vermont, Washington, D.C., the state of Washington and Springfield before moving to the Ware School Department.
She has worked as a teacher and also in guidance, special education and higher education and was special assistant to the superintendent of schools in Springfield.