Miller To Leave 'Gansett

Miller To Leave 'Gansett
accepts superintendent POST at Pioneer Valley Regional schools
Eryn Dion
News Staff Writer

TEMPLETON  Narragansett Superintendent Ruth Miller will be leading the Pioneer Valley Regional School District next year, having negotiated a deal that will have her overseeing five schools in the Northfield-based district.

“Everything is set and ready to go,” Ms. Miller said, adding that she will sign the new contract on Wednesday.

Ms. Miller’s departure comes at a time when school officials are beginning to reassess the needs of the district, exploring possible reconfigurations in staffing and administration to better serve students. The hiring of interim Principal John Jasinski — who has 34 years working in the district — is part of that process, Ms. Miller explained, and she wants to ensure there is a clear path forward before starting her new position.

“I’ll try to work on a transition plan for them but also for here,” Ms. Miller said. “I want to make sure that everything is really nailed down before I move on.”

In her six years with Narragansett, Ms. Miller said she has strived to make gains academically — helping to institute new curriculum that has aided the middle school with achieving Level 1 status, and assisting the high school in maintaining the same standing — as well as pursued projects such as the new biomass boiler in the middle/high school building that improve the district as a whole.

“All that work is done, so I think someone else can come in and continue it along,” the superintendent said.

Coming from a finance background, Ms. Miller said she is looking forward to once again holding a position where she is both superintendent and business manager. The Pioneer Valley job, she said, drew her in because, like Narragansett, it is a regional district, spanning the towns of Northfield, Bernardston, Leyden and Warwick.

“I love regional school districts,” she said. “I love that interaction.”

For her first year, Ms. Miller said she hopes to jump right in and craft a strategic plan that will guide the district academically and administratively over the next several years.

“The challenge of being a new superintendent — which is what I like — is that you can’t come with preconceived ideas about anything,” she said.

“The fun part is I get to go in and do an entry plan and talk to everybody — much like I did here — and find out what they are really proud of, and also what they might want to change.”

The superintendent said she is looking to finish out her career in Pioneer Valley, and hopes to become more involved with the four communities that make up the district.

Ms. Miller came to Narragansett in 2009 as the assistant superintendent and business manager, becoming superintendent in 2012. School Committee members have said that they will likely select an interim superintendent before mounting a full-scale search for a new chief administrator.