After 14 years, Crossett Brook Principal Tom Drake looks to ‘graduate’ in June
January 17, 2023 | By Lisa ScagliottiAfter being the face of Crossett Brook Middle School for the past 14 years, Principal Tom Drake announced today that he will be stepping down at the end of this school year.
Crossett Brook Middle School Principal Tom Drake leads the 2022 8th grade graduation ceremony. File photo by Gordon Miller
Drake said he shared his news with staff over the weekend and during Monday’s in-service day. He sent a message to families Tuesday morning where he says he will be “graduating” with the school’s eighth graders in June.
Drake said he does not have a new job lined up for the fall. “The timing of this announcement is simply an acknowledgement of the imminent onset of the best hiring season for public school administrators,” he explains. “Fourteen years as a public school administrator is a long time to be in one school, and I have had the distinct and deep feeling of late that it is time that CBMS has a fresh administration, with a new voice and perspective on middle level education.”
School staff contracts typically start July 1.
Drake, 58, moved to Waterbury with his family and joined the staff at Crossett Brook Middle School in Duxbury for the school year that started in the fall of 2009. During his tenure at the grade 5-8 school, two of his three sons attended Crossett Brook and went on to Harwood Union High School. He succeeded the school’s only other principal, Ken Page, who served in the position from the school’s opening in 1997.
In noting the timing of his announcement, Drake said that the school district would have an opportunity to hire a new principal who hopefully could be involved with hiring a new assistant principal as well.
That position came open in the fall when the school’s newly hired assistant principal Kellie Klasen resigned a little over two months into the school year. Klasen moved to Vermont from Chicago last summer. She left in November and has since taken a special education administrator position in the Burlington School District.
In addition to Klasen, Drake said Crossett Brook has seen a number of staff resignations so far this year. “We were all set in mid-August” before the school year began, he said. But so far, nine of the school’s roughly 65 staff have left.
Drake said the departures have involved mostly new hires for multiple types of positions including teachers, secretarial staff and the homeschool coordinator. “All but one was new to us this year,” he said. “And they all had good reasons.”
Drake acknowledged the strain on educators and students over the past several years of the COVID-19 pandemic that’s leading many to make new career choices.
Harwood Unified Union School District Superintendent Mike Leichliter agreed. “Teaching has always been a challenging profession and is even more so over the past two years,” he said. The district so far is not experiencing a large mid-year loss overall, “but schools across Vermont are seeing a much shallower candidate pool,” he noted.
Leichliter said the district is in the process of hearing from staff across the district on their intentions for next school year. He said data would be available soon on the number of teachers looking to retire in June.
“While we are working hard to support teachers, the demands of the last two years on both teachers and administrators have been great,” Leichliter said.
A cutout of Principal Tom Drake leading the school cheer is on a birdhouse on one of the maple trees along the school driveway. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
Asked what may be next, Drake said he would like to stay in public education and that middle school is his favorite level. In 2019-20 Drake temporarily filled in as the administrator at the K-6 Warren Elementary School. He said he enjoyed the younger grades but “gravitated to the fifth- and sixth-graders.”
He said he believes that change will be good for both Crossett Brook and himself after 14 years. “The school needs a fresh voice,” he said. “I could use a shake-up too.”
Known for his upbeat manner and effusive school spirit, Drake promises to remain dedicated to the school district and the middle school through the end of the year, ending his message to the community with his familiar call for the school cheer: “Cougars on 3...always!”
Below is Drake’s letter to the Crossett Brook Middle School Community.
January 17, 2023
Dear CBMS Community,
It is with very mixed emotions that I am announcing that this will be my last year in the principal position at Crossett Brook Middle School. I will be completing the school year, and 'graduating' with our 8th graders in June. No, I do not have another position 'in hand' as of now, and the timing of this announcement is simply an acknowledgement of the imminent onset of the best hiring season for public school administrators. 14 years as a public school administrator is a long time to be in one school, and I have had the distinct and deep feeling of late that it is time that CBMS has a fresh administration, with a new voice and perspective on Middle Level Education. So, a new principal and assistant principal will be hired this Spring, and can start anew and afresh this summer to take the school to the next level. I will remain fully committed to the HUUSD and to CBMS for the 2nd half of this school year- Cougars on 3...always!
With the highest of respect,
Tom Drake
CBMS principal