Superintendent Tremblay ‘loved every minute’ of LPS career

Published July 1, 2020

By DAN TOMASELLO

LYNNFIELD — Working with children, families and the community was the best part of retired Superintendent Jane Tremblay’s 34-year career in the Lynnfield Public Schools.

Tremblay officially closed the book on her 34-year tenure with the school system when she retired on Tuesday. She served as the district’s chief educational officer for the past six years.

“Thirty-four years ago, never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be sitting in the superintendent’s chair when I walked through the doors of Huckleberry Hill School as a very nervous kindergarten teacher,” said Tremblay. “I have loved every minute of the past 34 years, and I feel so blessed to be part of this community.

Tremblay said she was inspired to work in education while pursuing her undergraduate degree from Fitchburg State College.

“I always worked with kids,” said Tremblay. “I volunteered at summer camps, I taught Sunday school and I was a babysitter. When I went to college, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. I was living with a lot of education majors, and I was more interested in the classes they were taking than the general education classes I was taking. I decided to be a teacher at the beginning of my sophomore year because I really enjoyed working with children. I knew it was something I would do for a long time.”

Tremblay began her tenure in Lynnfield working as a kindergarten teacher for two years at Huckleberry Hill School. She taught second grade at Huckleberry Hill for 16 years. She said the best part about working as a classroom teacher was watching children develop over the course of a school year.

“I loved working with kids,” said Tremblay. “I loved seeing kindergarteners coming in as babies and seeing them leave a little bit more confident and a little bit more independent. In second grade, I loved the transition they made from learning how to read to really enjoying reading, as well as seeing students become more confident. The changes in students from September to June always left me in awe because they change so much over the course of those 10 months.”

After spending 18 years in the classroom, Tremblay switched gears and became an administrator when she was named Huckleberry Hill School’s interim principal in February 2004. She was selected as Summer Street School’s permanent principal in the summer of 2004 and was named Massachusetts Principal of the Year in 2012.

“I loved being a building principal at Summer Street School,” said Tremblay. “I loved having intersections with so many more students other than the 22 in my own classroom. I loved getting to know the teachers and helping them with their practice, and helping them get to a different level in their practice. I really loved working with families. I enjoyed attending meetings with families and just helping them troubleshoot challenging and difficult hurdles that came up with their children. I just loved every minute of being a building principal.”

The School Committee unanimously voted to appoint Tremblay superintendent in November 2013 and she took over the school system in July 2014. She declined taking credit for the school system’s success over the past six years, and attributed its success to a collaborative effort.

“The legacy that has been created over my tenure working with community members, the Administrative Leadership Team and teachers is we have strengthened the foundation of the Lynnfield Public Schools in a way that has made it an excellent school system,” said Tremblay. “Together, we rose expectations and we set the bar high. Everybody in Lynnfield should be really proud of the work we have done together.”

Tremblay said one of her proudest accomplishments as superintendent was having the district implement a tuition-free full day kindergarten program during the 2016-2017 school year. She is also proud that the school system revamped its assessment protocols for students in grades K-8 by using a more “consistent” approach. She is also proud that teachers have been consistently developing and refining curriculum over the past six years.

“I am very proud that people want to come to this district,” added Tremblay. “That is because of the teachers and the administrators in this district. They have worked so hard to get it to where it is today.”

Tremblay said watching students develop over her six-year tenure as superintendent was just as fun as her classroom teacher and principal days.

“It’s a lot of fun watching preschoolers learn how to socialize with each other all the way up to high school, when we are seeing students excel on the stage in plays, the music celebrations that we have and on the playing fields,” said Tremblay. “Watching students grow is the best part of the job no matter what job you have in education.”

Tremblay said the most challenging part of being superintendent is “never knowing what each day will bring.” She said the 2019-2020 school year was her most challenging year working in education due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic.

When asked what she will miss the most about working for Lynnfield Public Schools, Tremblay said, “the students and the people.”

“The close ties that I have had with faculty members and families is without a doubt what I am going to miss the most,” said Tremblay.

Tremblay thanked current and former School Committee members for the support they have given her over the course of her career.

“I never took their trust for granted,” said Tremblay. “I am truly grateful for the support they have given me. I don’t think I can adequately express that in words.”

Tremblay also thanked current and former members of the Administrative Leadership Team for making her a better educator. She said the ALT “constantly made me look good because they work really hard.”

“They made me better every single day by questioning my thinking and pushing me to dig deeper and think deeper,” said Tremblay.

Tremblay also thanked retired educator Cindy Schott for being a mentor. Schott taught kindergarten with Tremblay at Huckleberry Hill and was the school system’s elementary math curriculum specialist while Tremblay was Summer Street’s principal.

“Cindy has remained a constant and steady presence in my life,” said Tremblay. “She has always been there guiding me through every single job I have had here in Lynnfield. She had a huge influence on me as an educator. She was a master educator.”

In the wake of the global pandemic forcing schools to close this year, the School Committee has asked Tremblay to work as a consultant through the end of the year in order to assist incoming Superintendent Kristen Vogel.

“The School Committee asked me to stay on as a consultant due to the world pandemic and the challenges that the school district will face once the district reopens with new guidelines,” said Tremblay. “They asked me to help Kristen with that very challenging and difficult process because of my historical perspective and experience. I will be staying on until Dec. 31, however, I will be very much behind the scenes consulting with Kristen more so than being out on the frontlines.”

Tremblay is also going to be working for the Massachusetts Association of School Committee’s New Superintendent Induction Program, where she will teaching new chief educational officers the ins and outs of the job. She is looking forward to spending more time with family and friends, reading, listening to Podcasts and, hopefully, watching her beloved Boston Bruins sooner rather than later.

“I am looking forward to spending more time with family and friends at my leisure as opposed to when my schedule allows me to,” said Tremblay.

Tremblay thanked the entire Lynnfield community for “always believing education is important and always supporting education.”

“We could not do the job that we do in our schools without the entire community behind us,” said Tremblay.