By ELLIS IURILLI-HOUGH
MELROSE — Budget cuts in the Melrose Public Schools have left many parents concerned about the upcoming school year. One of the cuts that has generated the most discussion and, for many, worry, is the elimination of the middle school principal position.
Jason Merrill, who has been the principal of Melrose High School (MHS) for nearly a decade, will take on leadership of the Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School (MVMMS) this fall, in addition to continuing as principal of MHS. Bryan Corrigan, one of two assistant principals at MHS, will be joining Merrill in managing both schools. Christopher Beaver will remain in his position as assistant principal at MHS, while Michelle Sewyck and Steve Black, current teachers, will become assistant principals at the middle school.
For Merrill and Corrigan, this means managing twice as much.
“We will both be taking on an extra 800 students and 100 adults, doubling our responsibility,” Merrill said. “We face the challenge of making positive change at the middle school while keeping the high school moving in the right direction and continuing to make progress.”
The middle school principal position is one of 35 positions that were eliminated across the district ahead of the 2025-26 school year in order to close a $4 million budget gap. Due to rising costs in a number of areas, including health insurance, special education, utilities, and transportation, the City of Melrose and the Melrose Public Schools (MPS) faced a combined $6.1 million deficit, which has led to cuts in a number of areas, both on the city and school sides of the budget. While the City Council has voted to place three property tax override questions on November’s ballot, a successful override vote in November would not bring positions back for this school year.
Managing students ranging from 11 to 18 years old would be challenging enough, even if both schools were fully staffed. But the middle and high schools have been especially hard-hit by budget cuts: of the 35 positions that were eliminated, 15 were at MVMMS and eight at MHS, which will result in average class sizes of 28 students at both schools. Compared to the 2023-24 average of 19.3 at Melrose’s secondary schools, this jump is significant. The current contract with the Melrose Educators Union states that “the School Committee will make every reasonable effort, short of hiring additional staff, to reduce class size to 25 or fewer.”
Some of the 35 positions that were eliminated included departmental directors, all of whom have been eliminated over the past two years. Last year, positions like Director of World Languages and Director of Science, who oversaw curriculum across the entire district, were merged into two STEM Director and Humanities Director positions. This year, those positions were further whittled down to a single 6-12 Director of Academics position. Those
roles plan curriculum and professional development, provide coaching and support for teachers, and conduct state-mandated teacher evaluations. These responsibilities will now fall to Merrill, Corrigan, and the other assistant principals, adding even more to their already long task list.
Corrigan also mentioned reduced class offerings, a change to the bell schedule, and the loss of the team model — a model where a group of teachers all teach the same group of students, whom they can collaborate on supporting — at the middle school. The high school schedule is still in flux, but computer science will face substantial cuts, other electives will no longer be offered, and some AP sections will be eliminated, according to the School Committee. These cuts are due to the elimination of teacher positions and the corresponding increase in class sizes, which means that classes with lower enrollment cannot run.
“As one member of the School Committee, I am concerned about the impact that this budget will have on our students, educators and district leadership,” said School Committee member Jen McAndrew. “We will see increased class sizes across the district. At the secondary level, we will see bigger class sizes, fewer sections of courses, including AP classes, and fewer electives and offerings. And, we will have fewer administrators in our buildings to provide additional support. I have every confidence in our educators, Superintendent Berman, Deputy Superintendent Ken Kelley, Principal Merrill, Deputy Principal Corrigan and the whole leadership team, but we can only cut so much before Melrose is in a deeply untenable position. Given the situation we are in, and the impact of these cuts on our kids, there should be absolutely no doubt that we need additional resources from an override to fully support our students, our schools, and our community.”
Merrill and Corrigan are still figuring out what these budget cuts will mean for their day-to-day work with students this year.
“In some ways, I will need to learn to look at this work through a wider lens from above, but also because of a lack of administrators and teachers, I will need to be more closely involved in working with our students,” Merrill said.
“A silver lining is that this gives us the ability to try some new things and see what works. Unfortunately, that is not ideal, but it is what it is,” Corrigan added.
Melrose is not the only school district that will have a single principal for a secondary campus, but the model is not widely used.
The Gill-Montague and the Mohawk Trail-Hawlemont Regional School Districts in Western Massachusetts have a single principal for all secondary students. Each of these districts has approximately 300 secondary students, compared with a total of 1850 at MHS and MVMMS.
In Westbrook, CT, the Board of Education (BOE) recently approved a two-year pilot period in which the principal and assistant principal will oversee both the middle and high school.
The pilot is estimated to save the school district approximately $140,000 during the trial period.
“The proposed model strengthens instructional support by consolidating leadership of our content area coordinators under one principal,” Westbrook leadership noted in a memo from their June 3rd meeting. “This unified approach will better align research-based teaching practices, professional development, and evaluation across grades 6-12. By clarifying vision and streamlining coordination between middle and high schools, we can more effectively support educator growth and improve student learning outcomes.”
“The shared leadership model strengthens relationships, deepens our understanding of student and cohort needs, and provides consistent, long term leadership for staff and students,” the memo went on.
In 2024, Amherst, MA superintendent E. Xiomara Herman proposed a similar structure amid impending budget cuts. The proposal involved merging grades seven through twelve into Amherst Regional High School, while turning Amherst Middle School into an “innovation center” focused on technological programs.
“The model works. It’s how you implement things, it’s how you transition, how you layout the building, it’s how we make sure instruction takes place,” Herman said in a 2024 interview with the Western Mass News.
Herman’s proposals are currently on hold due to ongoing repair to Amherst Middle School and concerns around restructuring the younger grades. However, Herman affirmed that the proposals remain under consideration while the district finalizes the details.
For the Melrose secondary schools, the future of the new leadership structure remains uncertain. The upcoming school year will be a test for the district and for the principals themselves, and much of it rests on whether an override passes, or whether more cuts are coming down the line in the future.
“I am in a unique situation,” said Merrill. “For me, I will have two sons at the high school and my daughter will be at the middle school soon, so I am extremely committed. But for my wife and I, we need to evaluate the situation our city is in and its future. We will learn a lot this fall.”
Corrigan echoed Merrill’s commitment to the job, as well as his concerns about the district’s financial outlook.
“I have been with MPS for 13 years. The current budget situation has led me to think about next steps; I am excited to be working with Jason, our team, our staff, and our students, but I am concerned about staffing, the upkeep of our facilities, and the resources we need to do our jobs well,” he said.
One thing is for sure – the new leadership structure is a big change, but the leaders at MPS are committed to ensuring the wellbeing of their students. Principal Merrill left parents with this message:
“We are going to work really hard to create the best experience we can, and we are confident we can do that. We will stick with what has been important to us: creating a welcome environment built on kindness and respect, and treating every student the same way that we want our own children treated when they go to school.”