Christopher Bowen Tapped As New RHS Principal: Caitlin Reilly Will Serve As Deputy Principal

Last week, Revere Public School Superintendent Dr. Dianne Kelly announced Christopher Bowen will take over as Revere High School Principal next year and Caitlin Reilly will be the school’s next Deputy Principal.

Bowen and Reilly will take over leadership of the school from outgoing Principal Dr. John Perella and Deputy Principal Leah Tuckman. Perella and Tuckman announced they were leaving RHS this spring after a combined 47 years as educators in Revere and elsewhere.

“It is with great pleasure that I announce the next Principal of Revere High School to be Christopher Bowen,” said Kelly. “We’ve known Chris for four years now and have been impressed by his work engaging students and families as the Assistant Principal of the Freshman Academy.”

Bowen began his career in education as a high school mathematics teacher, mostly at Framingham High School, and has experience designing and leading programs for at-risk students.

“We saw this first hand with his redesign of the 9th grade transition program last summer,” said Kelly. “Chris led the RHS strategic plan development for the transition to competency based learning and assessment.  This five-year strategic plan has been the basis of the RHS improvement goals since then.”

Kelly said Bowen also led the recent NEASC self-study and collaborative conference visit and has worked with the grading sub-committee on Habits of Work. 

“He has a vision for defining and implementing a Multi-Tiered System of Student Supports-including entry criteria, referral process, monitoring, and exit criteria–to ensure progress towards graduation for students who would benefit from timely, coordinated and directive academic/social-emotional intervention strategies,” said Kelly.

Bowen holds degrees in Mathematics, Sociology, and Education Leadership all from Boston College. 

“His knowledge of our high school, our staff, our students, and our community will be an asset to fostering change at RHS,” said Kelly.

Kelly also said she was thrilled to announce Reilly as the next Deputy Principal. 

“Caitlin Reilly began her career as a high school Spanish teacher and later, an instructional coach at Cesar Chavez Charter School in Washington, D.C.,” said Kelly. “She spent five years as Principal of Summit Charter school in Redwood City, California before returning to Massachusetts to be near her family.”

At Cesar Chavez, Reilly was part of a team that led the conversion to competency based learning and grading.  At Summit, she continued to coach teachers as they implemented a competency-based system using project-based learning. 

“She also fostered equity of access for all students through their “AP for All” approach of no tracking,” said Kelly. “Caitlin has deep knowledge of restorative practices and tiered interventions which will facilitate stronger implementation of these programs at RHS.  A huge asset to our community is Caitlin’s fluency in Spanish.”

Caitlin earned her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia, her Masters in Teaching from American University, and a Master’s in School Leadership from Harvard University.  “Congratulations Caitlin Reilly, we also look forward to collaborating with you and participating in your leadership,” said Kelly.