Seabrook Middle School in search of interim principal after sudden resignation

SEABROOK — The town is again seeking a new principal for Seabrook Middle School following the resignation of Jamie Parsons, who gave notice less than a month before school started to take a position elsewhere.

According to SAU 21 Superintendent Meredith Nadeau, Parsons submitted his resignation about a week before the Seabrook School Board’s Aug. 15 meeting. In the letter, he said he was leaving to assume another position in his home state of Massachusetts.

“In his letter, he said he appreciated the opportunity he was given here and that he had a good experience here,” Nadeau said. “But I think this new position was just too good an opportunity for him to pass up.”

Nadeau said Parsons signed a standard two-year contract when hired as SMS principal in June 2022. By resigning after only one year, he did break the contract, she said.

“I think this job is in his hometown,” she said. “It will allow him to be back in Massachusetts and back in the Massachusetts (teachers) Retirement System.”

More: Forrest Carter Jr. resigns from Seabrook School Board

Nadeau said Parsons explained it would also allow him more time with his children since New Hampshire and Massachusetts school vacations are different.

A motion was made and passed at the School Board’s Aug. 15 meeting to accept Parsons’ resignation, effective Aug. 22. Board members Christina Keiser, Kelli Hueber and Jennifer Hubbard approved while member Patrick Knott did not.

Currently, Nadeau is assuming the duties of principal at the Seabrook Middle School and those of SAU 21 superintendent.

“I’ve been a teacher, and I’ve been a principal,” said Nadeau, who added the beginning of a new school year is both exciting and busy. “We have a good team at the school and at SAU 21, and we’ll be able to keep things moving.”

This is a difficult time of the hiring cycle to search for new permanent school administrators, Nadeau said. As a result, Nadeau has posted notices for an interim principal at Seabrook Middle School to work for the remainder of the school year.

Reaching out to the New Hampshire Principals Association and the New England School Development Council, Nadeau’s hoping word will spread about the position. The goal, she said, was to have a candidate to recommend within a month or so.

After that, the district will conduct a full search for a new principal, Nadeau said.

Wyatt’s big day: Hampton Falls boy with Down syndrome featured in Times Square video

Parsons was hired in the spring of 2022 following a search after former principal Erin Milbury resigned after spending five years at the helm of Seabrook Middle School. Milbury left in July 2022 to become the principal at Hampstead Middle School.

Before arriving in Seabrook, Parsons spent nine years as the assistant principal at Veterans Memorial Middle School in Melrose, Massachusetts. He was a high school science teacher before that at Triton Regional High School, the secondary school located in Byfield, Massachusetts, that includes students from the communities of Salisbury, Rowley and Newbury.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Seabrook Middle School in search of interim principal after resignation