LHS principal McCollum to depart in April

LACONIA — Laconia High School Principal Jim McCollum will resign his post near the end of April, much sooner than his originally scheduled date of July 1. The school board unanimously accepted a letter of resignation from McCollum at its meeting Tuesday, and Lisa Hinds — the current academic coordinator for Laconia High and Middle schools selected as McCollum’s successor last month — will step into the role for the final months of the school year.

“Jim has been a principal in New Hampshire for 20 years. Sixteen of those years he was an administrator in Laconia and 13 of them he was principal at either the middle school or the high school,” Superintendent Steve Tucker said. “I’d like to recognize Jim for the last two years, for improving the climate and culture at LHS.”

Tucker also highlighted McCollum’s “personal sacrifice for Laconia School District.” McCollum’s family lives in Florida, he continued, and being away from them has “been challenging for him and it's been challenging for his family, but he did so to support Sachem nation.”

McCollum, who had initially returned to the district as a faculty adviser and mentor, according to Tucker’s remarks, most recently came on as principal in 2021 when then-principal Robert Bennett died of cancer.

“I came back to Laconia specifically to ease that tragedy of that loss, to offer structure and support to this great high school as it coped with that loss and in many ways to help transition the program back to ‘normalcy’ following the pandemic,” McCollum wrote in his resignation letter. “That mission has been accomplished at this point in time and the district has unanimously selected an outstanding new Principal.”

Hinds will now become principal on April 22, assuming those duties more than two months earlier than the district planned. Per a vote of the board, she will be paid the principal’s salary for that period, and McCollum’s payment will cease upon his departure.

Highlighting the academic and social recovery the school has made since the pandemic and the effectiveness of its career preparatory programs, after school offerings and hall monitors, McCollum wrote, “It is my belief that I am leaving Laconia High School in a better place than when I arrived.” 

While starting out as principal this spring, Hinds will also keep her responsibilities as academic coordinator in the high school. 

Speaking after her appointment, Hinds said she hoped to bring stability to a position that has seen five different faces since she joined the district in 2015. In an interview Wednesday, she emphasized that she feels the early change supports that goal and creates an opportunity for an even smoother leadership transition.

“I’m in a place I think any person coming into this role would want,” Hinds said. Spring is a critical period of planning for the next school year, she continued, and as someone hired from within the district, being in the driver's seat sooner means that planning can start even earlier. 

In discussing the transition with McCollum after her approval, Hinds said, the possibility of an early departure did come up. She said she’s excited to get started and supports McCollum’s decision “wholeheartedly.”

“If I wasn’t excited and prepared for this position, I wouldn’t have applied for it,” Hinds said. “The timing change of a couple of months earlier ... doesn’t change that.

“I’m ready.”