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BMR Names High School Principal

Wed, Dec 22, 1999 By MEREDYTH  R. WATERMAN Staff Writer BLACKSTONE -- Blackstone-Millville Regional High School will once again have a permanent principal in January, when Mary Shimkus, assistant principal at Holliston High School, is tentatively scheduled to take over. Superintendent Aldo L. Cecchi named Shimkus as principal last night, saying her experience with high-stakes testing like the MCAS made her his choice for the position. "Miss Shimkus comes to us with experience dealing with a very similar process to the MCAS, with preparing students for the Texas version of high-stakes testing," Cecchi said. Shimkus, a 30-year educator, spent about 20 years working in schools in Texas, where she was an administrator for about 10 years, Cecchi said. Her most recent position there before moving back to Massachusetts was as principal of the 2,500-student Bell High School in Galveston, Texas. Cecchi said he expects her experience there preparing students for testing without losing focus on the curriculum will suit Blackstone-Millville Regional High School's needs. Shimkus is now in her second year as assistant principal at Holliston, which is a significantly larger school than BMR, Cecchi said. She was born in Hopedale, where she now lives, though she spent much of her career in Texas and Connecticut. She holds both bachelor's and master's degrees from Southern Connecticut State University. Cecchi said Shimkus is tentatively set to start her new job Jan. 24, depending on when Holliston is ready to let her leave. He said her salary has been agreed upon, but Cecchi would not disclose it yesterday. She is scheduled to meet with the School Committee Jan. 13 and will meet with school staff before she begins working, Cecchi said. Shimkus beat out the other finalist, Gerald B. Ferris, the assistant principal of Kennebunk High School in Kennebunk, Maine, for the position. She and Ferris were pared from a field of 27 applicants for the position, which became available in August when former principal Stephen F. Chrabaszcz announced he was leaving for a job as vice principal of Johnston Senior High School in Rhode Island. Since then, Robert C. Powers, Chrabaszcz's predecessor, has come out of retirement to serve as interim principal. He was joined by Keith A. Ducharme, who stepped up from his position as a physical education teacher to fill in as assistant principal, since Andrew W. Keough also left at the end of the last school year. Ducharme will continue to serve as interim assistant principal while Shimkus adjusts to the position, Cecchi said. The responsibility of hiring a permanent assistant principal, who is shared with the middle school, will then be left to Shimkus and Kathryn Tucker, middle school housemaster, unless the district follows through on a proposal to create separate assistant principals for each, Cecchi said.