School board names new principal for Pleasant Street School

LACONIA — The city’s school board hired a new principal, and took a big step toward the filling of an anticipated vacancy, during its meeting Tuesday night.

The board unanimously agreed to hire Kelley Carey as principal of Pleasant Street School, one of the city's three elementary schools. Carey, presently the assistant principal at Plymouth Elementary School, will begin her new role on July 1. She will succeed Elisa Guerriero, who informed the board in January she would resign at the end of the school year.

In a separate action, the board also voted to contract with the New Hampshire School Boards Association, and its consulting firm The Bryan Group, to identify candidates to become the next superintendent. That job is currently being filled by Bob Champlin, who was named interim superintendent in August following the unexpected resignation of Steve Tucker. Champlin was subsequently contracted by the board to continue through the 2025-26 school year, in order to give the board time to conduct a thorough search.

Principal hired

“We are very excited to share our recommendation for the Pleasant Street School principal,” Champlin told the board. “We had seven good candidates, four with significant administrative experience and three with elementary experience.”

He said Carey, who was present at the meeting, brought 36 years of experience. She started as a physical education teacher, and has been an assistant principal for 12 years.

Board member Karin Salome moved to accept the recommendation, and the board agreed unanimously to hire Carey, who then told the board she was excited to join the district.

“I get the sense that it’s a great community, a welcoming community,” Carey said.

Superintendent search update

A committee of board members has been considering strategies to identify Champlin’s replacement since the fall, and on Tuesday their suggestion was offered to, and accepted by, the full board.

As a result, the district will contract with the NH School Boards Association to provide a pool of candidates for the board to consider. The board approved allocating up to $20,000 for the contract, including $17,000 for fees and another $3,000 for expenses. Of the fees, $8,000 would be due immediately, and the balance paid when the search committee brings a recommended hire to the board. Per the contract, expenses include mileage for the consultant and photocopies.

The board approved of the contract without dissent.

“Many thanks to the search committee,” said Board member Jennifer Anderson.

A welcome grant haul

In other business, the board accepted two grants totaling $75,050, to be utilized by the J. Oliva Huot Center, which provides technical education for Laconia and several surrounding districts.

Both grants — one for $30,000 and another for $45,050 — award the center with Perkins funds to be used to purchase equipment and materials for career and technical programs.

Champlin said the grant applications were pursued by Huot instructor Ken Martin, and the Huot has won around $200,000 in competitive grants in recent years.

Though the grants are to be used to supply programs that benefit all districts in the Huot’s catchment area, Champlin said the windfall will ameliorate some of the pain associated with a steep drop in revenue the district is facing next year.

“Every time something like this comes in, it helps us with the challenge of teaching supplies,” Champlin said. “When it’s a career technical tech center, it goes to the sending schools and all, but it’s our program.

"I think this is really impressive.”