Joanne Menard interviews for the superintendency on Jan. 15.
Photo credit: ELCAT
EAST LONGMEADOW — After two lengthy interviews by the East Longmeadow School Committee, Joanne Menard was hired as the new superintendent.
The committee selected Menard by a 4-1 vote on Jan. 15, barring successful negotiations, over candidate Peter Gillen.
Menard will be taking over for Superintendent Gordon Smith, who will be retiring in June after 16 years with the district.
The process began with forming the Superintendent Search Committee in November 2025. From Dec. 8-11, the search committee interviewed eight out of 15 total applicants, landing on Menard, Gillen and Robert Dodd as finalists. Dodd withdrew candidacy after being hired as superintendent by Rio Rancho Public Schools in New Mexico on Dec. 17.
Menard currently hails from Holliston Public Schools as assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. She began her career as a science teacher at the high school level and has experience as principal at both the secondary school and elementary levels.
She has a bachelor’s degree in marketing from The Ohio State University, a master of education in elementary education from Anna Maria College and a doctorate of education in educational leadership from the University of Hartford.
Gillen is currently the principal of West Springfield Middle School, with experience as vice principal and lead teacher in the English department. Gillen began his career in public education as a sixth grade English teacher. He has bachelor’s degrees in English and secondary education, along with a master of education in education administration from Springfield College. He also received a doctorate of education from William H. Taft University.
Menard’s interview began by thanking the committee for having the chance to meet each member throughout the process. She said it was really impressive and showed their commitment to the school district.
Committee member Antonella Raschilla began questioning and asked about different instructional or curriculum directives that Menard has given to her district that caused an impact in student growth and how she monitored usage of high quality instructional materials and growth.
“I’m lucky enough in my role, I’m charged with all curriculum reviews for the entire district,” Menard said. “Since I’ve been there, we did a two year math curriculum review for grades K-12 plus, and the first time since 2011, we have a consistent resource for the elementary school, which is Eureka Math2, and for the secondary schools, Reveal.”
She added that the district is in the middle of an ELA elementary curriculum review and was able to secure a $224,000 grant from the Department of Secondary Education. She said to monitor, the one thing she can really speak on is math.
“My curriculum team and myself present twice a year together. I present at every meeting but they collectively come with me,” Menard said. “For math in the elementary schools, we use i-Ready, in the secondary schools we use IXL, so we’re always looking at those benchmark assessments.”
Menard said that if students are receiving interventions, they are being monitored with progress reports into their data dashboard, Open Architects.
Committee member Kerri Jarzabski asked how Menard would approach designing professional development systems that both elevate instructional practice and foster a data informed approach while creating a culture where all staff feel valued, supported and empowered, being mindful of the various career stages.
“In my role as the assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, I am charged with the responsibility for the professional development for the entire district,” Menard said. “I have compiled a committee that we get together three or four times a year.”
Menard said the committee comprises 25 people and are all of Menard’s curriculum specialists, including one STEM, humanities and unified arts person at each school. She said the committee gets together to decide what the focus will be on for the year, going through lengthy discussions on how to get there.
“Our focus, for [professional development] for the entire district, is tier one instruction for the next three years,” Menard said.
She said she has a strategic plan collectively built under four arches: communication, social and emotional learning, teaching and learning and resources. She also has a professional development agenda template used throughout every school, which states DESE’s high quality standards.
After the interview was complete, the committee held a discussion period. During the search process, committee members visited the candidates’ respective schools, with Raschilla and Jarzabski visiting Menard in Holliston.
“We met with five different groups of people, one of them being the instructional coaches that she talked about, the superintendent, school committee and community members, principals and central administration,” Raschilla said. “All of them, how they spoke about working with her, I mean she builds relationships. She includes them in all the decision making, and especially the coaches, how she builds them as leaders.”
Jarzabski said she had the unique opportunity to visit both candidates’ districts, and Menard’s experience is diverse over several different career opportunities. She said it gives Menard a strong understanding of K-12 and a perspective of central administration.
“I think what was highly answered consistently through a variety of the different groups that we met with was her ability to be creative and innovate in securing funding through grants and some significant amount of funds that was allowing them to do some things in the curriculum with literacy where there was some weakness,” Jarzabski said.
She also said that there has been tension in the district between union leadership, teachers, the school committee and superintendents, and Menard was able to advance curriculum reviews. that had not been done for over a decade, in that environment through built relationships. Jarzabski said it spoke a lot about her collaborative nature.
Chair Greg Thompson said Gillen’s support of his staff and the town was clear and evident in his visit and that he runs an immaculate building, which was “quiet for a middle school.” He applauded both candidates on their passion for education and said they were both cut out for the job.
“I truly believe that if we choose either one, we would be in a good direction,” Thompson said. “I applaud the screening committee for the work that they did to give us solid professionals.”
Student Rep. Anna Flanagan said she thought Gillen did a good job integrating special education and autism specialists into the classrooms. She said she could tell by walking around the school that the students knew him well and were told that he was a really good communicator.
Committee member William Strother said he had the opportunity to be on the search committee and the process was very diligent to find the right people. He said they have two great candidates to ensure that a great job will be done regardless of who takes the mantle.
“It’s one thing to have a leader that’s more of a manager and it’s another thing to have a leader that will move us forward,” Strother said. “If we could hire both of them, we would, but we’re at this place where we have to choose one, so for me, the one I would choose today is Dr. Menard.”
Member Aimee Dalenta said deciding seemed impossible because they were both incredible candidates and unbelievably competent. She said Gillen stood out as a better fit for East Longmeadow and embodies “transformational leadership,” providing something inspirational and motivating.
“He is the type of person who is going to bring people together,” Dalenta said.
Thompson said that some districts require residency, and while East Longmeadow doesn’t, closeness is still a concern and Gillen lives in East Longmeadow. He said he had great conversations with Menard and felt like there was a majority decision based on the discussion alone.
Raschilla said Menard brought up living further away without being asked, which shows her character. She said Menard and her husband can be seen at most town events and that “the community says that they see her, and that she’s around,” Raschilla said.
The complete interviews with Menard and Gillen can be viewed on the ELCAT01028 YouTube channel under the “live” section.
