ORLEANS — When Nauset’s new school superintendent, Glenn Brand, stepped into his office on July 1, he felt like he’d come full circle. Brand’s career in the U.S. began in 2002, when he took the job of assistant principal at Mattacheese Middle School in the Dennis-Yarmouth School District. Before that, he had been a teacher and assistant principal in Ontario, where he is from.
Brand left Mattacheese in 2004 to become principal of Wareham Middle School, but he told the Independent that his family always saw Cape Cod as the place “where we needed to be.”
In February, Brand was the Nauset Regional School Committee’s unanimous choice over two other candidates to succeed then-Supt. Brooke Clenchy, who had announced her retirement in 2024.
Nauset hired Clenchy to be interim superintendent in July 2021; she signed a three-year contract in January 2022. The frequent turnover in central office staff is a “major challenge for maintaining continuity” in the district, school committee member Chris Easley said, adding that during the interview process, Brand had indicated interest in a long-term position.
Brand was the superintendent of the Wilmington Public Schools from 2018 to 2025; before that, he was superintendent in the Acton Boxborough Regional School District from 2014 to 2017. He was assistant superintendent of the Sharon Public Schools from 2011 to 2014.
The day before Brand started his job here, the Trump administration announced it was withholding $6 billion in previously approved federal education grants to public schools. “It’s something we’re watching very closely,” Brand said, although it is unclear what the effects of the funding freeze will be in the Nauset district. These are “uncertain times” for public schools, he said.
Brand praised the state government’s recent efforts to increase district funding for special education — an item that has spiked school budgets in the district.
Declining enrollment is something many communities are worried about, said Brand, adding that he knows it’s been “more of a focus recently” in the Nauset district as the cost of education has gone up.
Brand said he’s excited to see the construction completed at the high school, and that as it wraps up, his administration will shift its attention to other buildings across the district. He named Orleans Elementary School as a candidate for improvement: it’s “an older building, and as buildings become aged, they need attention,” he said. The town of Brewster, which has two elementary schools, has similar issues, he said.
But nothing is currently pending at Orleans, he said, and it’s important to take stock of the district’s building needs before committing to anything.
Brand’s daughter, Carly, graduated from Nauset Regional High School with the class of 2025, having joined the district as a junior during the 2023-24 school year. She played on the school’s golf, hockey, and volleyball teams. The family also has a son in college.
They bought a house in Dennis in February 2024, Brand said. He would have preferred to live within the Nauset district but said that a difficult housing market meant they were “at the mercy of real estate” while looking for a home.
A draft of the fiscal 2026 budget for the Nauset district, which was approved in March of this year, shows a $234,000 line item for the superintendent’s salary.
Brand said he’s had a warm welcome from staff. He also said he thinks community involvement is deeper in Nauset than in other districts where he has worked.
“Having been a parent here the last couple of years, I’m excited to learn more about what’s happening here,” he said. “I’m excited to lead the next chapter for this tremendous district.”
That will mean weaving the schools into the fabric of the four communities, Brand said. He wants to foster relationships with parents and guardians, but he said he also wants to partner with community groups and town leaders and learn “what’s on people’s minds for the school community.”
Since his family’s move, he said he’s already learned to see some aspects of life on Cape Cod differently than he used to. Brand and his wife always heard people talk about the beauty and desolation of the Cape during the winter. The foggy beaches, the gray ocean — “We get it now,” he said, “and we’re in awe.”
