The new Revere High School leadership team was on hand for last week’s school committee meeting.
In April, Deputy Principal Shay St. Laurent was announced as the new Revere High School principal, taking over for Chris Bowen. Bowen left to take a position in the Chelsea school system.
St. Laurent also introduced new Deputy Principal Steve Chinosi. Chinosi is the former principal of Portsmouth High School. St. Laurent also worked in the Portsmouth, NH school system before coming to Revere.
St. Laurent is the first female principal to lead Revere High School.
“Almost a year ago, when I was here being introduced as the deputy principal, I wouldn’t have imagined that I would be stepping into these shoes, but I’m very, very proud to be taking on the role as principal at Revere High School,” said St. Laurent. “It’s been an incredible year for me; it’s such a welcoming staff, and that’s truly why I’m staying – the staff, the students, the caregivers have been wonderful to work with, with my vision for learning and Steve’s vision for learning and we’re really excited to continue moving those goals forward together with our partnership.”
Chinosi said he was excited to be in Revere and has been struck by the sense of community in the schools in his visits to the city.
“After 20 years in the classroom and the last few years as a principal, I really just want to say that I am very excited to think about how to support the teachers who are working every single day for our kiddos, and together, that is where we are going to see the growth and this beautiful vision Revere has,” said Chinosi.
In other business, the school committee recognized the RHS Robotics Team for its recent achievements, as well as RHS athletes Jeremy X and Isabella Mendieta.
X holds several indoor track school records, most recently setting the record for the 60-yard dash.
Mendieta this year set the field hockey record for both goals scored in a season and in a career.
The school committee also heard presentations from school staff on attendance outcomes at the Garfield Middle School, early childhood improvement updates from the early childhood department, and on the success of the Early College program in the district.
The Early College program allows students to take college level classes through local community colleges and earn credits that can then be transferred when they are officially enrolled in college.
School Director of Counseling Lillian Parker said the program can help students determine what they want to study in college, as well as save money by earning credits that transfer over to the colleges while they are still in high school.
During the public speaking portion of the school committee meeting, several teachers and parents spoke against cuts to special education and elementary adaptive physical education positions, as well as to some programming in the FY27 school budget.
“If staffing is reduced, special education teachers will be responsible for multiple grade levels, which limits collaboration time and reduces consistency of education that is essential for inclusion and student success,” said teacher Roxanne Campbell, speaking on behalf of educators at the Whalen School. “We also need to consider group size and intensity of instruction. With reduced staffing, students with disabilities could be placed in groups of 10 or more; significantly decreasing individualized support.”
Revere Teachers’ Association President Jane Chapin called for the school committee to reconsider its budget vote and reinstate student-facing positions, noting that the district has 27 assistant principal positions across 11 schools.
“Tonight you have heard directly from educators and community members who work directly with students every day,” said Chapin. “In my role as RTA president, these are the same concerns I hear about regularly. I hear about them because the educators and the community care deeply about our students; we care deeply about whether our students are receiving the services that they need, and we care deeply about whether our students are being supported, but most of all, we care deeply about the future of learning in our schools.”