From this mornings Republican-American

(full story at http://rep-am.com)

Housy administrators will return

Principal puts rumors to rest after job post

BY RUTH EPSTEIN

REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

FALLS VILLAGE — A posting of the position for an academic administrator had rumors swirling through Region 1 that perhaps the principal or assistant principal of Housatonic Valley Regional High School was leaving.

Principal Jose Martinez denied that rumor Thursday.

“I fully plan on being here next year and am already getting ready for the opening of school in the fall,” Martinez said in a phone interview. “I have not heard Ian (Strever, the assistant principal) is leaving either, but I have heard those things through the rumor mill.”

Strever could not be reached Thursday night.

Region 1 has seen both its high school administrators leave at the same time, so when the new position was posted, several said their thoughts were brought back to August 2010, when Principal Gretchen Foster Mosca and Assistant Principal Maryann Buchanan announced three weeks before the start of school they’d be leaving for jobs in the Torrington school system.

Martinez said because there is so much to do involving the new school initiative plan, which requires evaluations, and meeting all the other demands of the school administrators, the new position is being established.

“We certainly could use some support as we work as a team to make sure the plan gets implemented properly,” said Martinez, who will be starting this third year at Housatonic on July 1. “The amount of work around it is substantial.”

Martinez said all teachers and noncertified personnel need to be evaluated, a challenging task with only two administrators. “It’s just a lot to do when you still have to run the day-to-day operations of a school,” he said.

He made it clear the new position would not be an additional administrative position for the high school.