Superintendent Johnson announces additional district and school leaders

BOSTON – Superintendent Carol R. Johnson has announced the appointment of additional principals to lead Boston Public Schools next year, as well as leaders of central offices.  They are as follows:

Rachel Skerritt
Chief of Staff
Rachel Skerritt has served as Headmaster of Another Course to College (ACC) in Brighton for the past two years, after interning at ACC as a Boston Principal Fellow.  Under her leadership, ACC has been profiled by National Public Radio and recognized by U.S. News and World Report.  She began her career teaching English Literature at her alma mater, Boston Latin School.  This is her eleventh year as an educator in the Boston Public Schools.  A published fiction and non-fiction writer, Ms. Skerritt holds a bachelor of arts in English and a master of science in Secondary Education from the University of Pennsylvania.  She also earned a master of science in Education Administration from the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Bill Horwath
Assistant Superintendent, Human Resources
William (Bill) Horwath has been the Acting Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources since June 2008. In this role, he leads a team of human resources professionals and oversees a budget of $2.4 million in working to build the best human capital for the district. As the head of Human Resources, he sits on the Superintendent’s Executive Leadership Team and has been engaged in re-aligning system-wide resources to meet the Superintendent’s priorities and performance targets. He also has served as Director of Staffing in the district, overseeing all aspects of hiring and staffing for schools and central offices. Previously, Mr. Horwath worked as a senior consultant for Deloitte Consulting, where he oversaw a combined budget of $2 million and managed projects for clients such as school districts in Alabama and Tennessee. Mr. Horwath has also worked as a teacher in Ecuador and with college-bound high school students in Washington, D.C. He has a bachelor's degree in Public Policy from Duke University and master's degrees in Business Administration and Public Policy from the University of Chicago.

Michael Hughes
Acting Director, Transportation
Michael Hughes has served as Assistant Director of Transportation for the past eight years.  He began his career in the Boston Public Schools in 1975 as a transitional aide at the Condon Elementary School.  He later served as a school police officer at South Boston High School and a transportation officer.  Mr. Hughes is an alumnus of Boston Latin School.

Lisa Gilbert-Smith
Interim Headmaster, Another Course to College, Brighton
Lisa Gilbert-Smith is the current dean of students at Another Course to College (ACC) where she coordinates grade-level meetings and is responsible for student academic counseling.  Prior to joining ACC, Lisa served as the dean of students at the Frederick Douglass Charter School in Boston and worked at Health Careers Academy supporting their instructional team. Ms. Gilbert-Smith earned her bachelor’s degree from Boston University and a master’s degree from Harvard University.

Alexandra Montes McNeil
Acting Principal, Umana Middle School Academy, East Boston        
Alexandra Montes McNeil has spent her entire professional career with the Boston Public Schools serving as a teacher, science program director and assistant headmaster at the Boston Latin School.  While at Latin School, she was responsible for curriculum, instruction and discipline for the 7th grade.  She was also a participant on the teams that developed the schools math power standards and implemented the new writing curriculum.  Ms. Montes McNeil holds a bachelor’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a master’s degree from Boston College.

Eileen Nash
Principal, Beethoven and Ohrenberger Schools, West Roxbury
The Beethoven and Ohrenberger elementary schools are forming a K-8 program, beginning with the addition of grade 6 at the Ohrenberger this year.  Eileen Nash has been principal of the Beethoven Elementary School for the past seven years.  She will now serve as principal of both buildings while former Ohrenberger principal Stephen Zrike, Jr., completes his doctoral dissertation and supports other work in the district.  Ms. Nash began her tenure in the BPS as an Evaluation Team Leader and later served in various administrative roles in the school district in special education, operations and other areas.  She earned a bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Salem State College and a master’s degree from Cambridge College, with graduate work from several institutions.

Justin Vernon
Acting Principal, Clarence Edwards Middle School, Charlestown
Justin Vernon has served for the past two years as the Assistant Principal at the Edison Middle School.  Prior to this position he was a Principal Intern at the Harbor School.  Before entering into school administration, he taught Math, Science, and exploratory Spanish in both Gaston, North Carolina and Denver, Colorado.  Mr. Vernon holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science from Allegheny College and a master’s degree in school administration from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education.  This past year, Mr. Vernon completed the district’s Instructional Leadership Institute course.   

A cumulative list of all principal, headmaster, and district leadership appointments is attached.