With the recent announcement by Everett School Superintendent Frederick Foresteire that Erick Naumann and Omar Easy would be officially taking over in the roles of principal and assistant principal at Everett High, effective January 1, many in the city have been wondering what changes would be coming to the crown jewel of Everett’s school system.
The answer appears to be that changes will be more subtle, with growth and evolution the focus of the new leadership, rather than change for changes’ sake.
“We’re looking to build on the things that are already in place, build on what has been done in the past and help move the school to new heights,” said Naumann of his and Easy’s appointments.
“We are in a time where things like social media in the schools and performance based teaching are big issues,” added the new principal Naumann. “We’ve definitely got our hands full, but the important thing for people to know is that, even though we’re a little younger, our passion for the kids is what is most important. We’ve committed ourselves to making sure that the school is safe and the learning environment for the kids is the highest it can be.”
“I think that we’re (Easy and Naumann) both proud to say that we’ve gone to school here and we both want what is best for the students in the city,” added Dr. Easy of his decision to return to Everett schools.
“I think we both have some different experiences, Erick graduated here, went to college and returned and started learning within the Everett school system,” said Easy. “I am a living example of someone who was able, because of Everett schools, reach my dreams and play football at the highest level in the NFL, and then I went on and continued my education at the highest level, earned my doctorate and decided to return home to give back to the community.”
Naumann, began teaching at Everett High as a Biology and general sciences teacher in 1997. After six years in that position, he was named head of the Everett High Science department, where he served until he became Principal at the Parlin six years ago.
During his time at the Parlin School, Naumann led the school to become the highest performing kindergarten through grade eight (K-8) school among Massachusetts public schools. During that time the Parlin was also recognized by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for its exemplary student growth percentiles in both Math and English.
“Everything that has gone on here in Everett schools has been because of the leadership at the top and then the leadership here at the high school and what they bring to the table,” said Naumann. “Everyone here feels a sense of pride at being from Everett and that is translated down to the students. . . A lot of the positive things that happen in Everett and in the lives of our students happen here in the schools and there is a lot of pride in knowing that we can help all of our students to better themselves.”
Easy noted that his experiences away from Everett and the schools, will complement those of Naumann.
Easy and Naumann agreed that there may be some minor adjustments to the roles of principal and assistant principal in the building, but they also acknowledged that they will work those issues out as they arise.
“For the most part, those things that were the responsibility of Mr. Venezia will probably mostly be my job now and we’ll work to see what else we want to add to that,” said Easy. “Erick has things that he is very passionate about and strength and I have things that I want to help move forward, so we’ll work that out between us.”
“I think the traditional roles of principals and assistant principals have changed now, particularly here in Everett, because we do have a lot of support, so we can leave a lot of the issues like discipline and other issues to the class masters and subject leaders,” added Naumann. “We’ll both have more time to work on the curriculum and work to change the MCAS scores.”