For Superintendent Pamela Angelakis, it’s the connections within the district she’ll miss the most.
“Connections with the staff, the connections with my administrative assistants, my central office, connections with the teachers – a lot of teachers I started with,” Angelakis siad. “I’m going to miss the kids. The kids are so funny and so kind.”
Angelakis will retire at the end of the month, closing out a 35-year career entirely spent within the Swampscott School District. She was named superintendent in 2013.
“I’m sincerely grateful to have worked in the same district for my entire career,” Angelakis said. “Swampscott is a special place, where public education is valued and supported by the community. The district gave me the opportunity to grow in knowledge and experience, which gave me the confidence I needed to succeed as a superintendent.”
Prior to her administrative role, Angelakis began her career in Swampscott as a teacher aide at the Clarke Elementary School in 1990. After graduating from Salem State University and applying for dozens of teaching jobs, she found an opportunity to work in the Swampscott schools, a place she was always told to take any opportunity because it would be hard to get into.
That fall, a teacher at the Machon Elementary School went on extended leave, and Angelakis was offered a substitute teaching position for the remainder of the school year.
“I always thought that I would stay in the classroom,” Angelakis said. “I really, really enjoyed the kids.”
After 14 years in the classroom, Angelakis was named principal of the Stanley Elementary School.
“That principal was supposed to come back. I always thought I was going back to the classroom,” Angelakis said. “Then it was ‘can you stay until December? She’s not able to come back.’ And then it was ‘can you finish the year?’”
Angelakis had just finished her administrative degree, which she completed in the hopes of moving up on the salary scale rather than within the administrative positions. By the end of that school year, Angelakis was told a contract was ready for her to remain principal of the elementary school.
“I actually haven’t interviewed in the district since 1990,” Angelakis said. “You’re in a town that you love. I thought I thought, at the time there were only three elementary schools, and I’d never get another opportunity like this unless somebody else retired. So I jumped at it…People have taken a chance on me my whole career, which is incredible when I stop and think about it.”
She held that role for eight years before being named assistant superintendent. Now, Angelakis has served more than twice as long as the average superintendent does in a single district.
“To be able to say I started my career here and I’m ending it here, I’m really, really proud of that,” Angelakis said.
Angelakis said what drove her was the opportunity to make a greater impact at each new level of leadership.
“It’s just a bigger classroom,” Angelakis said. “Now I can make decisions that impact the entire district, and that feels good.”
Her time as superintendent wasn’t without its challenges.
Angelakis also received death threats after an elementary school principal announced they were transgender. There was the time when the Swampscott High School principal was under investigation for inappropriate online activity with a minor, and Angelakis also dealt with an alleged hazing incident that caused the cancellation of a football game.
“I had no idea…You think as superintendent, you’ll be the top instructional leader,” Angelakis said. “You’re dealing with attorneys and budgets and reports to the state and DESE and timelines. I think if I have one regret in this position it was not getting into the classrooms enough.”
On top of all of it, Angelakis also led the district through the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was hard to stay confident in your decisions because everybody around you was doing something different according to their own facilities and their own ability to get kids in,” Angelakis said. “That was really hard. And then the learning loss from there that we’re still making up. Even the socialization of the little ones that were coming in with behaviors because they didn’t know how to share. They didn’t know how to socialize.”
But there have been positives too.
“When I look back, I’m really, really proud of the fact that we got that new elementary school,” Angelakis said. “That was, I think, my most proud moment, the ribbon cutting ceremony.”
This year, Swampscott opened its new elementary school at 10 Whitman Road, merging three old buildings into one. Hadley Elementary, at 24 Redington St., was the largest with about 354 students. The Stanley School, which was at the current elementary school’s location, had about 156 students, and the Clarke School, at 100 Middlesex Ave., had nearly 250 students.
“I think the other thing…is the three unions just ratified their contracts,” Angelakis said. “I think the relationship we have, the administration has with the union right now, is better than anything.”
On June 12, the Swampscott School Committee unanimously approved new contracts for the education support professionals, tutors and teachers. All three contracts will include a cost of living adjustment (COLA) increase by 3% by fiscal year 2028.
The negotiation process used interest-based bargaining, where the School Committee and unions addressed issues directly rather than through intermediaries.
“We did three contracts in five months. When you look around, you have striking, and Beverly still hasn’t signed their contract,” Angelakis said. “I’m really, really proud of the trust we’ve built between school committee, administration and the union because you don’t have that everywhere.”
Now, Angelakis said she feels confident passing the torch to incoming superintendent Jason Calichman, calling the district “a well oiled machine with the greatest team of leadership ever.”
“He has a passion for this town and the school district,” Angelakis said. “He knows the struggles that we’ve had, and he knows how much effort it’s taken to get where we’re at…My hope is that he’s just going to continue to push it even further.”
Angelakis will “keep busy with kids in some capacity,” maybe even including the publication of a children’s book she wrote years ago. She’s juggling the idea of offering new superintendents advice and potentially consulting. She also has her knitting company that she takes to craft fairs.
