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Brooke Clenchy

    NAUSET SCHOOLS

    Clenchy’s Successor Will Have Some Tough Tests

    New superintendent will face shrinking enrollments and rising budgets

    By

    ORLEANS — Nauset Public Schools Supt. Brooke Clenchy has confirmed that her retirement at the end of the current school year, first announced last month in an email to parents and staff, will mark the end of her 40-year career in education. She began as a classroom teacher in Canada and has been a superintendent in Maine and Massachusetts for more than 20 years.

    Nauset Schools Supt. Brooke Clenchy will retire at the end of the current school year. (File photo)

    “This has been a calling for me,” she told the Independent. “This is a dedication in your heart that you feel, to make the right decisions for children.”

    Clenchy was praised by members of the regional school committee for leading the schools in the wake of the pandemic, streamlining procedures, revamping policies, and uniting the system’s five districts. Nonetheless, major challenges face whoever steps into Nauset’s top job next year.

    “I probably will remember her most for bringing together our five districts in a way that I think was never done before,” said regional school committee chair Judith Schumacher of Orleans. Those five districts include just seven schools: five elementary schools administered by local committees in four towns — Brewster, Orleans, Eastham, and Wellfleet — and the middle and high schools governed by the regional committee.

    Clenchy, whose salary for the current school year is $212,175, was hired as interim superintendent in July 2021. After a search, she was chosen from among four finalists and given a three-year contract in January 2022.

    The toughest issues that will confront the next superintendent include declining school enrollment, staffing and recruitment challenges, increasing budgets, and uncertainty over the future structure of the four towns’ elementary schools.

    According to state data, combined student enrollment at Nauset’s middle and high schools dropped by 16 percent in the last four years — from 1,480 students in 2020 to 1,236 in 2024. Statewide public school enrollment has increased slightly each year since 2021.

    Schumacher and committee member Chris Easley of Wellfleet attributed the trend in part to the region’s soaring housing costs, which have also made it challenging for the schools to attract and retain employees.

    “We need both students and staff,” Schumacher said. “It’s a double challenge.”

    Beginning in 2020, the pandemic created a period of unprecedented staff turnover in the Nauset Schools. A total 178 staff members, including 118 instructional staff, left during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years. The system employs an average of 550 staff each year.

    “Anytime you have turnover of that type, it challenges your culture, and it challenges your identity, because you’re losing your historical reference and your historical people,” said Easley.

    An increase in the number of students leaving the Nauset system to attend charter schools or take advantage of school choice — which allows students living in one district to attend public schools in other districts — has also been a factor, they said. According to state data, the number of school-choice students opting in to Nauset has dropped from about 290 in 2020 to about 170 in 2024, while the number of students opting out has increased from about 40 in 2020 to about 60 in 2024. That’s a net loss of 140 students.

    Because school districts must make tuition payments for students who leave to attend other public or charter schools and receive payments for each student who opts into the district, attracting and retaining more students could provide a much needed financial boost for the Nauset Schools.

    In recent years, several of the system’s five districts have seen their annual budgets increase by more than the state mandated maximum of 2.5 percent per year as costs for labor, transportation, and special education continue to rise, prompting the need for town budget overrides to pay for regular operating costs.

    Administrators and school committee members are hopeful that the Nauset High School renovation project, which may have deterred students from choosing the school during construction, will ultimately draw more students to the district once the work is complete.

    “We have to finish the building project at the high school,” said Schumacher. “We have to make sure we have the strongest and most dynamic administration at both the high school and the middle school, and that we offer the programs that meet today’s needs. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

    The high school renovation is scheduled for completion in December 2025. “The energy that has been generated with the partial opening of the new campus is bound to spill over,” Schumacher said. “I think a new person is going to come to a very strong and vibrant district.”

    Another looming question for an incoming superintendent could be how to lead the district through a potential reorganization of its elementary schools, Easley said. Although town and school officials have discussed the fact that aging buildings and declining enrollments in each of the four elementary school districts could point to a need for regionalization, no plan or vision currently exists for how this might happen, he said.

    “The towns are very protective of their elementary schools, but just look at the per-student cost on them,” said Easley. “There comes a point where the economics makes them very challenging to maintain. I think you can answer this problem by coming up with a greater vision of what education could be out here.”

    With these challenges in mind, Easley said the overriding job of the new superintendent will be to cultivate a culture of education that fosters community and includes all students.

    A search committee comprising four members of the regional school committee and one member from each of the four town elementary school committees has been tasked with leading the search for Clenchy’s successor. A joint meeting of all five committees aiming to kick off the process and identify a consulting firm to help with the search was scheduled for Oct. 30.

    NAUSET SCHOOLS

    Clenchy’s Successor Will Have Some Tough Tests

    New superintendent will face shrinking enrollments and rising budgets

    By

    ORLEANS — Nauset Public Schools Supt. Brooke Clenchy has confirmed that her retirement at the end of the current school year, first announced last month in an email to parents and staff, will mark the end of her 40-year career in education. She began as a classroom teacher in Canada and has been a superintendent in Maine and Massachusetts for more than 20 years.

    Nauset Schools Supt. Brooke Clenchy will retire at the end of the current school year. (File photo)

    “This has been a calling for me,” she told the Independent. “This is a dedication in your heart that you feel, to make the right decisions for children.”

    Clenchy was praised by members of the regional school committee for leading the schools in the wake of the pandemic, streamlining procedures, revamping policies, and uniting the system’s five districts. Nonetheless, major challenges face whoever steps into Nauset’s top job next year.

    “I probably will remember her most for bringing together our five districts in a way that I think was never done before,” said regional school committee chair Judith Schumacher of Orleans. Those five districts include just seven schools: five elementary schools administered by local committees in four towns — Brewster, Orleans, Eastham, and Wellfleet — and the middle and high schools governed by the regional committee.

    Clenchy, whose salary for the current school year is $212,175, was hired as interim superintendent in July 2021. After a search, she was chosen from among four finalists and given a three-year contract in January 2022.

    The toughest issues that will confront the next superintendent include declining school enrollment, staffing and recruitment challenges, increasing budgets, and uncertainty over the future structure of the four towns’ elementary schools.

    According to state data, combined student enrollment at Nauset’s middle and high schools dropped by 16 percent in the last four years — from 1,480 students in 2020 to 1,236 in 2024. Statewide public school enrollment has increased slightly each year since 2021.

    Schumacher and committee member Chris Easley of Wellfleet attributed the trend in part to the region’s soaring housing costs, which have also made it challenging for the schools to attract and retain employees.

    “We need both students and staff,” Schumacher said. “It’s a double challenge.”

    Beginning in 2020, the pandemic created a period of unprecedented staff turnover in the Nauset Schools. A total 178 staff members, including 118 instructional staff, left during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years. The system employs an average of 550 staff each year.

    “Anytime you have turnover of that type, it challenges your culture, and it challenges your identity, because you’re losing your historical reference and your historical people,” said Easley.

    An increase in the number of students leaving the Nauset system to attend charter schools or take advantage of school choice — which allows students living in one district to attend public schools in other districts — has also been a factor, they said. According to state data, the number of school-choice students opting in to Nauset has dropped from about 290 in 2020 to about 170 in 2024, while the number of students opting out has increased from about 40 in 2020 to about 60 in 2024. That’s a net loss of 140 students.

    Because school districts must make tuition payments for students who leave to attend other public or charter schools and receive payments for each student who opts into the district, attracting and retaining more students could provide a much needed financial boost for the Nauset Schools.

    In recent years, several of the system’s five districts have seen their annual budgets increase by more than the state mandated maximum of 2.5 percent per year as costs for labor, transportation, and special education continue to rise, prompting the need for town budget overrides to pay for regular operating costs.

    Administrators and school committee members are hopeful that the Nauset High School renovation project, which may have deterred students from choosing the school during construction, will ultimately draw more students to the district once the work is complete.

    “We have to finish the building project at the high school,” said Schumacher. “We have to make sure we have the strongest and most dynamic administration at both the high school and the middle school, and that we offer the programs that meet today’s needs. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

    The high school renovation is scheduled for completion in December 2025. “The energy that has been generated with the partial opening of the new campus is bound to spill over,” Schumacher said. “I think a new person is going to come to a very strong and vibrant district.”

    Another looming question for an incoming superintendent could be how to lead the district through a potential reorganization of its elementary schools, Easley said. Although town and school officials have discussed the fact that aging buildings and declining enrollments in each of the four elementary school districts could point to a need for regionalization, no plan or vision currently exists for how this might happen, he said.

    “The towns are very protective of their elementary schools, but just look at the per-student cost on them,” said Easley. “There comes a point where the economics makes them very challenging to maintain. I think you can answer this problem by coming up with a greater vision of what education could be out here.”

    With these challenges in mind, Easley said the overriding job of the new superintendent will be to cultivate a culture of education that fosters community and includes all students.

    A search committee comprising four members of the regional school committee and one member from each of the four town elementary school committees has been tasked with leading the search for Clenchy’s successor. A joint meeting of all five committees aiming to kick off the process and identify a consulting firm to help with the search was scheduled for Oct. 30.

    SUPERINTENDENT SELECTED

    Brooke Clenchy Chosen to Lead Nauset Schools

    The current interim sees ‘so much goodness and good work we can do’

    By

    ORLEANS — Expressing strong support for the candidate who has served as interim superintendent for the last seven months, school authorities chose Brooke Clenchy to be the next long-term occupant of the office at a meeting on Jan. 28.

    Clenchy has been the interim head of the four-town regional school district since July 1, 2021. Pending contract negotiations, she will step into the permanent role on July 1, 2022.

    “We owe the Superintendent Search Committee a great thank you for the time that they put in and the effort and energy that brought us here today,” said regional school committee chair Chris Easley at the beginning of the meeting. The process began a year ago, he noted.

    Nauset Regional Schools’ next superintendent, Brooke Clenchy, at her desk at the district’s central office in Orleans. (Photo courtesy Brooke Clenchy)

    The decision followed public forums held on Zoom with the two finalists for the position — Clenchy and Wareham Assistant School Supt. Andrea Schwamb. During the forums, consultant Patty Grenier, who facilitated the search process, asked questions submitted by community members. The Joint School Committee conducted final interviews with the candidates on Thursday, Jan. 27.

    The Joint School Committee comprises the individual school committees of the four district towns, Brewster, Orleans, Eastham, and Wellfleet, and the 10-member regional school committee.

    After Easley spoke at the Jan. 28 joint session, Wellfleet School Committee member Jill Putnam was the first to say she’d be voting for Clenchy “because Brooke has a lot of experience with complicated regional school districts.”

    Putnam noted the district’s complexity with various finance departments, select boards, and communities. “Brooke came to us with experience, and she has now had experience on the job with us during a horrifically difficult time,” Putnam continued. “She sees the complications of our regional school system as a positive.”

    Eastham School Committee member Edgar Miranda spoke about Clenchy’s character.

    “There are two traits that I always look at very carefully: the spirit of collaboration and humility,” he said. “I think when you have a real leader who is humble, who is confident, who is sure of herself, they don’t have a problem delegating for positive reasons on certain projects.” Miranda said he thinks these attributes will allow Clenchy to help district leaders grow.

    Runner up Schwamb had come highly recommended for “her warmth, her vision, and her commitment” said regional school committee member Dick Stewart. But he noted that she had only spent about a year and a half managing her current district’s budget.

    Tom Fitzgibbons, another member of the regional school committee, praised both finalists. He called Clenchy “a seasoned professional” who is “at the top of her game.” Schwamb, he said, “presented herself as a wonderful human being. She had some significant accomplishments in her career, and I was impressed with a lot of them.”

    The Joint School Committee meeting was held on Friday, a day earlier than planned, because of the approaching winter storm. Nearly all 30 members attended the remote session.

    Cathryn Lonsdale and Griffin Ryder of the regional committee expressed concern that Clenchy’s status as interim superintendent gave her an advantage in the hiring process.

    Judy Schumacher, vice chair of the regional committee, countered that “being the interim could work for you or it could work against you. She could have spent these seven months impressing us, or she could have spent the seven months doing things we didn’t care for.”

    Schumacher added that she admired Clenchy’s respect for the original one-year mandate for the interim position. “She hasn’t come in and tried to steer the ship in another direction,” she said. “She’s come in and built foundational relationships.”

    Though all attendees could express a preference for one candidate, only members of the regional school committee and Union #54 school committee had a vote in the hiring. Three members of each elementary school committee were appointed by their respective committees to serve on the Union #54 committee. All 22 members of the group voted to appoint Clenchy.

    Union #54 was created in 1958 when the district was regionalized. Today, Union #54 conducts bargaining with the Nauset Education Association, which represents all unionized employees across the district.

    Clenchy joined the meeting after Grenier delivered the news of her appointment over the phone. She was visibly moved; “I’ve got goosebumps,” she said.

    “I really believe with all my heart that I’m the right person, in the right place, at the right time right now,” she told the committee. “I see so much goodness and good work that we can do. We have the right team.”

    Contract negotiations are still pending. Historically, negotiations are led by the regional committee chair and union chair, who are Easley and Orleans School Committee member Gail Briere, respectively. Briere was also the Superintendent Search Committee chair.

    Before adjournment, Clenchy thanked the committee for convening on a Friday night before a major snowstorm. The Zoom call ended with exchanged wishes that everyone “stay warm.”

    SUPERINTENDENT FINALIST

    Brooke Clenchy Wants to Make Education ‘Impactful’

    Nauset’s interim superintendent defends funding for arts and athletics

    By

    Brooke Clenchy, one of two remaining finalists for the Nauset School Superintendent, set out to be a teacher before she even entered kindergarten. She and her brother played school at home from the time Clenchy was four or five.

    “My poor brother, always the student and never the teacher,” she told the Independent, remembering how she used to monopolize their imaginary classroom. When she finally did get to kindergarten, her leadership skills set her apart, she said. Her teacher, Mrs. Moore, separated students into groups and designated Clenchy the leader of hers.

    Clenchy said she still talks about Mrs. Moore when she gives presentations about how teachers influence children. “I can still see the kindness on her face, and the warmth,” she said.

    Clenchy has two decades of experience as a school administrator. She grew up in Ontario, Canada and received a bachelor’s degree in education from Queen’s University at Kingston. She grew up playing the piano and also has a degree in music, which was among the first subjects she taught in grades 2 to 12 at the Three Hills, then the Grasslands Schools in Alberta.

    Brooke Clenchy will become the Nauset Regional School District’s interim superintendent on July 1. (Photo courtesy Brooke Clenchy)

    “I have such a love for the arts,” Clenchy said. She said that across her career as a superintendent, she’s tried to protect the arts from budget cuts. “I just knew that arts and athletics helped to shape our children as much as the academics did.”

    Clenchy said throughout the Covid-19 pandemic she’s worked especially hard to balance academic and social-emotional learning. “This is not a normal time for any of us to experience,” she added.

    Nauset’s strategic plan, which outlines the district’s goals for learners and educators over the next five years, states that fostering “self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making” will help students form healthy relationships and achieve academic success. Clenchy agrees, calling these cornerstones of a supportive and sustainable learning environment.

    So is ensuring that every student eats, said Clenchy. When she was superintendent of the Winchendon Schools, she said, she streamlined the process of applying for free and reduced lunch by reducing paperwork.

    “When a child is well fed, when they’re well taken care of, then the academics come naturally,” said Clenchy. “But you have to make sure that those other pieces are in place.”

    Clenchy held her first acting superintendent position in 2002-2003 at the Golden Plains School Division in Saskatchewan after an unexpected resignation from the sitting director. She oversaw schools in multiple communities and participated in discussions and events preceding the school division’s regionalization.

    In the U.S., Clenchy got her first teaching certification from Maine in 2003. She led Maine School Administrative District #45 in Washburn as superintendent from 2003 to 2007.

    At that point, she began getting certified in Massachusetts. Clenchy had spent years visiting cousins in Boston, where she said she would look out over the city and river and think “this is where I want to be.” The Mass. Dept. of Elementary and Secondary Education granted Clenchy’s certification in 2008. She then became superintendent in Winchendon before going to Ashland.

    Most recently, she was superintendent of the Nashoba Regional School District in Bolton.

    “One of the things I really like about regional districts is that each community has its own story, its own dynamic, its own legacy, its own set of core values,” she said. Along with maintaining consistent educational experiences across schools that feed into regional high schools, Clenchy said, “It’s always been critically important to me that those communities retain who they are in their schools.”

    Clenchy hasn’t worked in a district with school choice before but said she supports the idea. When asked how she might combat falling enrollment, she said she expects that the renovation of Nauset Regional High School, due to begin in February, will generate excitement and attract students to the system. She also thinks community initiatives to pay for pre-K programming for three- and four-year-olds in Orleans, Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro, and Provincetown may attract more young families to the district.

    While Clenchy was superintendent at Nashoba, the Boston Globe reported in November 2019 that a group of parents sought an independent investigation into the district’s handling of a criminal case against teacher Dorothy Veracka, who pleaded guilty to sending nude photos to a 15-year-old student.

    The group of parents who called for the investigation alleged that Nashoba Regional High School Principal Paul DiDomenico insufficiently investigated accusations against Veracka. They also pushed for Clenchy to be put on administrative leave, saying she would be unable to be impartial in an investigation.

    Attorney Tim D. Norris, working for the Nashoba School Committee, submitted a report on the investigation on March 11, 2020. He wrote, “It is the province of the school committee to determine whether Superintendent Clenchy engaged in actionable misconduct.” Three weeks later, MassLive reported that the school committee unanimously agreed Clenchy wasn’t at fault.

    Clenchy said she did not hear about the nude photos until late September, although she was aware in July that Veracka had given intoxicated students rides home from a party.

    Working to rebuild the community’s trust in the administration, Clenchy said she met a number of times with the district’s entire staff. The administration hired a panel of human resources and legal representatives for a Q&A session, then hired a trauma specialist for students.

    In a public forum held by the Nauset superintendent search committee on Monday evening, Clenchy was asked about maintaining fiscal responsibility in the region.

    “I would very much like to see a greater connection between department chairs to monitor expenditures throughout the course of the year,” she said.

    The reduction of face-to-face connection among students, staff, and educators brought about by Covid-19 has been difficult, Clenchy said. But she added that the questions she asks herself are the same as they were before the pandemic: “How do we make education come alive? How do we make education so it’s impactful for children? Is it relevant? Is it meaningful? When I know that the answer is yes, I know that we’re doing what’s right for children.”

    SCHOOLS

    Nauset’s Interim Superintendent Brings a ‘Tapestry of Experience’

    Brooke Clenchy hopes to make the position permanent

    By

    About 1,000 miles separate Ontario, Canada, where Brooke Clenchy was born and raised, from the Outer Cape, where she will soon become the Nauset Regional School District’s interim superintendent.

    And there have been many stops along the way, each leading her to where she will land in July.

    Clenchy began her career as a teacher. From 1982 to 1999, she worked at nearly every grade level, offering instruction in English, French as a second language, social studies, arts, instrumental music, and choral music.

    “I wanted to have a positive impact, and I did that as a teacher,” said Clenchy this week. “I thought I could do that as a principal.” So, she made the move to administration.

    Brooke Clenchy will become the Nauset Regional School District’s interim superintendent on July 1. (Photo courtesy Brooke Clenchy)

    After just a couple of years in that role, she was tapped to fill an acting director’s position — the U.S. equivalent of superintendent — overseeing several community schools in her district.

    She enjoyed the role and decided to pursue further opportunities as a top district official. That, coupled with some family connections in Boston, prompted her to venture over the border to take a superintendent’s position in Maine.

    Her ultimate goal was to live and work in Massachusetts. Looking out over Boston from a relative’s Prudential Center apartment, Clenchy remembers thinking, “I really want to live here.”

    In 2008, she made it to Massachusetts via a superintendent’s position in Winchendon and, later, in Ashland.

    Once again, a shoulder tap, this time from the Mass. commissioner of education, took her to a new level. As senior associate commissioner for the Dept. of Elementary and Secondary Education, she represented the state in education forums across the country. Ultimately, however, she found that level of government was not for her.

    “I missed the children too much,” Clenchy said. “The environment was so different from school. I didn’t hear the voices and the laughter and the footsteps of the children.”

    So, in 2016, she took the superintendent’s job at the Nashoba Regional School District, serving the towns of Bolton, Lancaster, and Stow, where she has worked for the last five years. Her husband, Kelly, is superintendent of the Littleton Public Schools.

    During the pandemic, the Clenchys have been missing in-person visits with family. Their son, Scott; their daughter-in-law, Julie; and their six-year-old granddaughter, Peyton, live in Toronto. Covid has prevented any trips over the border.

    The position at Nashoba would not allow her to take a month off to safely make the trip once travel was allowed, so she gave her six-month notice during the winter. “I thought, ‘That’s the only way I’m going to be able to do it,’ ” she said.

    Things have worked out well for Clenchy. Not long after her decision to resign, the one-year interim superintendent position at Nauset was advertised.

    Her last day at Nashoba is May 28 and her first day at Nauset is July 1, giving her ample time for a trip to Toronto between jobs.

    “I have a lovely apartment in Hyannis, and I’m packed and ready,” Clenchy said. The couple will keep their home in Lunenburg, and Kelly will continue as Littleton’s superintendent. “It doesn’t make sense to sell the house and shift everything down here for a one-year position,” she said.

    When Nauset begins its search for a long-term superintendent this fall, Clenchy plans to put her name in. “I have every interest in a full-time position,” she said. “I believe I’m the right fit for them. We’ll see if they agree.”

    Meanwhile, she and her husband will spend weekends together. She anticipates many of those will be on the Cape. The couple enjoy the area and have ventured here frequently over the years.

    Chris Easley, chair of the Nauset Regional School Committee, said the current position is for a single year, with a salary of $190,000. Nothing beyond that was discussed during the interview process.

    He and other school committee members liked Clenchy’s “broad range of experience, her energy, and her attitude.” The school system is unusual in that it includes four towns and five different school committees, Easley said. Clenchy has spent her last five years in a regional system.

    Clenchy knows the upcoming year will be challenging, as students resume full in-school learning. Nauset’s youngest students, who were just learning to read this current year, benefited from in-person classes, she said.

    “All the districts are looking at different summer programs, and I think you’ll have a lot of educational arms reach in and help support the children,” she said. “Next year, you’ll see a lot of universal screening, particularly in the elementary level, to help guide teachers toward what they need to focus on.”

    The district is also finishing the design phase for the high school renovation project and will likely put it out to bid in the spring. “The superintendent has input, but the 17-member building committee makes the decisions,” Easley said.

    Clenchy is ready to embrace the challenge, saying her past positions will help her succeed.

    “Every time I made a move, it was definitive of where I wanted to work next,” Clenchy said. “With that has come such a rich tapestry of experience for me to draw from.”

    Passion for the work has motivated her from the beginning. “It’s still what motivates me every single day,” she said. “It’s a commitment and a vocation. I love what I do.”

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