New Co-Principal Positions

As many are aware of by now, next year current YHS Principal Karl Francis will be the principal for Greely High School. In his place, current assistant principals Amanda Suttie and Michael Bennett will become co-principals. This change in leadership will bring exciting changes for the school.

Some may be wondering whether these new roles of co-principals are temporary positions to provide time for a new principal to be hired, but Suttie assures that this is “a permanent position.” The two will begin their transition into these new roles starting at the beginning of summer break.

YHS is certainly not the first school to take on a co-principal model. Suttie and Bennett have reached out to Westbrook High School, which has 3 co-principals. From the advice given by Westbrook, they have begun working on splitting up the responsibilities of a traditional principal based on what each perceives to be their “lane.” Both hold values and knowledge that are beneficial to specific areas within the role of the principal and that they would like to continue working on within their new roles. For example, Bennett works on the Social Emotional Learning Committee (SEL Committee) and Suttie works on the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee. They both have specific skills and interests that provide them with a clear way to split up the roles of the principal. 

Additionally, they plan to hire an assistant principal over the summer or even before the end of this year. This assistant principal will not take on all of the duties of the traditional assistant principal role, as that is quite a lot for one person. Suttie and Bennett will continue to share some of the responsibilities of assistant principal, while also taking on responsibilities of the principal. 

So how will this change in leadership affect students? Although Bennett says it is not “carved in stone,” he does not anticipate any major change to the routine of students at the school. He is hopeful that the school will move forward as they work out their new roles and solidify responsibilities over the summer. It will soon become clear to both students and faculty who is in charge of what roles. For right now, Suttie says that, “if anybody doesn’t know who to go to, they’ll email all three administrators so that they can get their questions answered and they don’t have to try to figure it out.”

But while many roles will be delegated to either Suttie or Bennett, both stress the importance of collaboration. They plan to be in constant communication and work together in many areas of school life. They are both excited for these new roles and are eager to improve the school both by implementing new changes and enhancing what already works. 

What remains the primary drive for both is their commitment to what is best for kids. Bennett expresses, “ultimately in the back of my mind is what is best for kids…Whenever we sit down and look at what we do and how we do it, there is always that frame of reference in our mind in terms of how does this help kids, how is this good for the staff, how is this good for York High School.” Suttie is excited to “continue the work that we started this year and see it go further.” It is an exciting change for Bennett and Suttie and an exciting change for all of York High School as we work to move the school forward.