Lindsay Fuori, Co-Editor-in-Chief
Charles Dumais’s six year term as Newtown High School Principal will come to an end this March as he begins a new chapter as the Superintendent of Amity School District.
In looking to further challenge himself in his career, Dumais applied for the superintendent position at Amity in late fall. “I think a big part of it is you start to realize you can impact an organization in different ways depending on what position you are in,” Dumais said. He explained that there are different challenges at each administrative level, but the superintendency requires making all the pieces of a district align and move in the same direction. “It’s a great professional challenge,” he said.
The Amity school district, also known as Region Five, encompasses the towns of Orange, Woodbridge and Bethany, CT. Though Amity includes a high school and middle school, each of those three towns have their own elementary schools and therefore their own superintendents. This presents Dumais with the task of successfully collaborating with all three superintendents to keep the district moving forward.
Although he will soon be located in Amity’s central office, Dumais looks forward to connecting with new students as the district’s central office is attached to the high school. He hopes that with the physical proximity he will be able to build relationships with students as he did here. After all, Dumais said that he enjoys his connections current with student. “I don’t have to give anybody homework,” he joked.
Though Dumais will miss those interactions in Newtown’s hallways he has assured those around him that his departure is an opportunity for the school as well.
“As much attention as we’ve paid, everybody has blind spots, so when someone new comes in to lead an organization hopefully they will reveal some of those blind spots and go from wherever good you were to even better,” he said.
“My hope,” he added, “is that we’ve developed a leadership team here and an organizational structure that will continue to operate very well without me.”
As the Newtown Board of Education searches for a new principal an interim will hold the position. In thinking of the new principal, Dumais warns that it is easy to get caught up in the technical things that must happen to run a school. But, “it takes a lot of time and energy to make sure you are putting effort into the most important thing in the school which is relationships,” he said.
All in all, Dumais said he is moving from a great situation to a great situation. He looks forward to addressing new challenges and responsibilities. In addition, Dumais anticipates receiving his doctorate in Educational Leadership from Central Connecticut State University this July.
