Superintendent who led East High's revival to leave for UR post
Shaun Nelms, who since 2015 has been synonymous with the revival of East High School through a partnership with the University of Rochester, will leave his superintendent position in June to join UR, the university announced Friday.
Starting July 1, he will become UR's vice president for community partnerships, a new role intended to "give new structure to the University’s wide-ranging work with local and national partners," according to a press release. He will be replaced as superintendent by Marlene Blocker, the longtime RCSD administrator who currently is principal of East Upper School.
Nelms, a 47-year-old Buffalo native with master's and doctoral degrees from UR's Warner School of Education, is also currently director of UR's Center for Urban Education Success. He will retain that role as well as his professorship at Warner.
“Shaun is a visionary leader who for the past eight years has led a revolutionary partnership that could be a model for K-12 transformation," UR President Sarah Mangelsdorf said in a statement. “His extraordinary work at East High School and the Warner School of Education has inspired us to think more broadly about the role innovative partnerships can play at the University level. If we are to have the greatest impact we can—in Rochester and around the world—we must work together with other academic institutions, with community organizations, and the corporate sector in a more strategic and organized way.”
Most high schools do not have superintendents; the unusual title derives from the school's status in state receivership law and the terms of its partnership with UR. Since that partnership has been in place, the school has undergone major structural changes and transformed from one of RCSD's poorest performing schools to one of its most attractive.
From 2016: East High School 'way better' in Year One
"We have been able to provide scholars at East real opportunities to succeed, a safe environment to grow, and we’ve been given the support and resources to innovate in spaces where despair was more often greater than hope," Nelms said in a statement. "It is my goal now in joining the University of Rochester to establish the University as a leader in community partnership and engagement; to cultivate greater and stronger meaningful relationships in the City of Rochester, across Monroe County, and beyond."
The current agreement among RCSD, UR and the state Education Department expires in 2025 and would need to be renewed for the partnership to continue.
Blocker is one of the district's most senior and respected principals. Before coming to East she was the founding principal at Rochester Early College International High School in the former Madison High School building on Genesee Street.
RCSD board member Ricardo Adams, who has two children at East, said he was happy for Nelms -- and happy that Blocker will replace him.
"I think he's done an amazing, amazing job over there at East," he said. "My kids have really benefited from it. They're going to miss him and I'm going to miss him being there."
The new upper school principal at East will be Ed Mascadri, currently the ninth grade academy director.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Shaun Nelms to leave East High School for University of Rochester post
