O'Leary and Aungst want to bring clarity, stability to New Bedford schools. Here's how.

NEW BEDFORD — It's been nearly 15 years since New Bedford Public Schools had a superintendent promoted from within. Now, as the school department's top two central admins prepare to assume their positions on a more permanent basis, they say helping to promote stability where they can, amid all of education's often volatile variables, is personal to them.

"Something I've learned is one of the most important elements in any district for it to succeed is stability," said interim Superintendent Andrew O'Leary. "You can't keep turning things over."

As per unanimous vote of the School Committee this month, O'Leary and interim Deputy Superintendent Darcie Aungst are set to officially lose their "interim" titles sometime in February pending agreements that would extend their contracts through June 30, 2026, according to the motion read at the Jan. 8 School Committee meeting. The two were appointed to their interim positions after last year's resignation of former New Bedford Superintendent Thomas Anderson, announced in March.

During an outside interview, Mitchell told The Standard-Times he expected O'Leary's contract would be "not dissimilar from the one Thomas Anderson had in place."

In the last year of Anderson's five-year contract, which he exited prior to its 2026 expiration, he was set to make $231,857. In its first year, 2022-2023, Anderson's salary was $218,484.

Calling off the search

At the meeting, Mayor Jon Mitchell, ex-officio School Committee chair, and then all other members, said since last year's vote to start a national superintendent search, they've become convinced that O'Leary and Aungst were the right people for their jobs based on their interim performances.

Echoing some of his comments at the meeting, Mitchell told The Standard-Times the two "have demonstrated a really strong focus on what matters."

"In the past couple of years we’ve seen not nearly enough accountability in the district and not nearly enough clarity and direction, so I think they've re-established that," Mitchell said. "There's no question they're fully committed.

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"In Andrew's case, he has his own kids in the district. It's been a while since we've seen that, so that's a good sign."

Journey from Ireland landed O'Leary in New Bedford

While he might most readily be recognized for his 18 years' worth of business-related work at NBPS in the types of roles often filled by those from financial fields, O'Leary stands out as a seasoned Finance & Operations Office veteran in a district that first hired him as a classroom teacher.

After immigrating from County Cork, Ireland to the U.S. for grad school in upstate New York, O'Leary moved to New Bedford with his wife and started teaching at the DeValles Elementary School in 2004, before a knack for grant writing brought him to Central Office as director of federal & state funded programs. From there he became business manager, then assistant superintendent of finance & operations, until last year's interim superintendent appointment.

Going on 20 years of working at NBPS, O'Leary says one of the things he appreciates most about the length of his tenure is that he's gotten to see long term efforts bear their fruit. It's something that adds a depth of experience that simply can't be acquired any other way, he said.

"If you want to be a professional in education — a teacher, a support professional, an education leader — you want to see how all the finance reforms and investments play out," he said. "There's no better place to do that than here. It's all happening in New Bedford."

Aungst also adopted New Bedford as home

Aungst, who moved to New Bedford from Kelso, Washington 30 years ago, agreed with O'Leary's sentiment.

"This school was in the bottom 20% of schools in the state," Aungst said of Congdon Elementary School, where she and O'Leary were in the midst of a routine drop-by visit. "Then in four years it was in the top 10%.

"It's possible," she continued, having also noted Congdon School's accolades like Mass. School of Recognition designations in 2018 and 2019, and being named a Blue Ribbon School in 2020. "It's possible for every school in New Bedford."

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Aungst knows the work that went into the Congdon School's turn-around very well, having been principal there from 2015 to 2021. As of 2017, she'd also added the DeValles School to her building leadership duties, splitting her time between the two South End schools.

State data shows that the DeValles School, in the state's 8th percentile prior to Aungst's leadership, had moved up to the 22nd percentile by the time she moved on to central office in 2021, as curriculum, data, and assessment manager for elementary schools.

Prior to any of that, Aungst's first experiences at NBPS were as a student-teacher starting in 1999. She was hired as a health teacher for several elementary schools in 2003 before moving to Normandin Middle School, where she'd eventually be named facilitator of student supports and learning, then Grade 8 assistant principal.

Keeping staff and settling 'on a clear direction'

One of the things Congdon School has benefitted from, O'Leary and Aungst said, has been staff longevity — something they look to promote district-wide with things like career advancement opportunities. But in certain aspects, they say it's important to remember less is more.

"As a teacher, I know what that felt like to have 'initiative overload,' and to immerse yourself in all this professional development to learn this program ... and next year it's something different," Aungst said, noting that maintaining a consciousness of what's being put on teachers' plates will be part of the district's approach to instruction. "There's so many evidence-based learning practices, you don't have to do them all — you have to do a few really, really well."

"In terms of politics or education reform, there are so many competing ideas and theories," O'Leary said. "That's why you need clarity: this is what instruction looks like in New Bedford; this is what student support looks like in New Bedford.

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When it comes to New Bedford High's advanced academic offerings, for example, O'Leary explained rather than acquiring more like-programs, this administration's thinking would favor a focus on optimizing "long-established pathways" like Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and Academy of Honors.

"You've got to do something that lasts," he said. "You've got to settle on a clear direction."

Flipping the script

Another defining philosophical characteristic of the new central administration, Aungst said, has been a district-wide emphasis on the need for a perspective shift on the nature of city schools and their "deficits."

"As soon as you flip your mindset from seeing something as a deficit to becoming an asset, it changes the way you work," Aungst said. "If you're seeing Spanish-speaking students coming in and feel like, how am I going to get them to pass English? No, it's — how am I going to help them develop into a multilingual person? Think of all the doors that opens for them."

"We've got challenges — we've got students dropping out, we want our graduation rate to be higher," O'Leary said, acknowledging there's plenty of "easier" districts one could work in. "But for those serious about getting into the education profession, there's no point in going to a district that isn't changing lives.

"We're going to make sure this district fulfills its potential and people are going to recognize it."

FUN FACT: Cork County, Ireland, where O'Leary is from, is about 2,930 miles from New Bedford, according to Google Maps. Meanwhile, driving from New Bedford to Kelso, Washington, where Aungst is from, would entail traveling 3,142.8 miles.

*Editor's Note: This story has been edited to correct an inaccuracy on Andrew O'Leary's residence.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: O'Leary, Aungst look to unify New Bedford Public Schools' approach