Kevin McCaskill named new Brockton High School principal as district faces turmoil

BROCKTON — Kevin McCaskill will take over as the new Brockton High School principal in January, Acting Superintendent James Cobbs announced Friday.

McCaskill will replace Interim Principal Jose Duarte, who Cobbs appointed in October after he stepped down from the role that he held in addition to superintendent.

"Feedback from the interview panels highlighted Mr. McCaskill's positive energy, optimism, and values of respect and trust,” Cobbs said in a written statement announcing the decision.

The Brockton Public Schools community met three final candidates for the role - McCaskill, Jahmal Mosley and Anthony Pope - on Dec. 13, when roughly 90 students, parents and staff interviewed the potential principals. The finalists were selected by an interview team comprised of about 20 students, parents, Brockton High teachers, support staff, school-based and district-level administrators and union representatives.

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“We had three strong finalists for the Principal of Brockton High School," Cobbs wrote. "I selected Mr. McCaskill for his current expertise and experience as an administrator in a large urban high school. Mr. McCaskill is the right person for Brockton High School right now. I expect that he will provide strong leadership from day one and work collaboratively with students, staff, faculty, and administrators to lead Brockton High School.”

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Who is Kevin McCaskill?

Most recently, McCaskill served as assistant superintendent of secondary schools for Boston Public Schools. He was also executive director at Madison Park Technical Vocational High School from 2015 to 2021 and director of school design and programming at the Hartford Public Schools from 2010 to 2015. Before that, McCaskill served as principal of Springfield's high school, middle school and elementary schools.

“The next principal of Brockton High School will set the tone for what it means to be a Brockton Boxer," said Brockton Mayor and School Committee Chair Robert Sullivan. "This is a new chapter for our entire community. I look forward to working with Kevin McCaskill to give every Brockton High School student and staff member the positive learning environment that they deserve."

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McCaskill also previously served as principal at Putnam Vocational High School. During his tenure, a city audit alleged that school officials mishandled school funding, and the audit led to the firing, demotion or resignation of seven school district employees, MassLive reported.

By the completion of the audit, McCaskill moved to a new job in a different school district.

“It is egregious. It is a disgrace,” McCaskill said to MassLive at the time. "I have no recollection of doing anything illegal while at the school."

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Brockton High makes up one-fifth of all Brockton Public Schools students

The high school is facing a number of challenges, from security and safety issues to a massive teacher shortage and a growing portion of students becoming homeless, while the district's leadership has been in a phase of transition since the start of the school year following the revelation of a nearly $20 million deficit in fiscal year 2023.

Duarte said early in his tenure as principal that the lack of staff is overwhelmed by the sheer number of students in the building — the school has roughly 3,600 students.

"We're trying to catch smoke," Duarte said in October. "What's been overwhelming has been literally the sheer number of students in the hallways. Trying to make sure we have a building that's safe for all of our students.

“The principal of Brockton High School oversees the education of nearly one-fifth of all BPS students,” Cobbs said. “It was important to give our community members seats at the table and to conduct the hiring process in a way that honored the tremendous responsibility of the position.”

Cobbs said previously that he expects McCaskill to start by Jan. 1, and will overlap with Duarte for roughly a month to ease in the transition.

Enterprise staff writer Christopher Butler can be reached by email at cbutler@enterprisenews.com.

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Kevin McCaskill named as new principal of Brockton High School