New Hildreth Elementary School Principal Sue Frederick (left) and Associate Principal Gretchen Henry get down to business on the first day of school, Aug. 27. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
“The start of school has been really good,” says Principal Sue Frederick after her first few days at Hildreth Elementary School. Parents, faculty, and staff have all been very welcoming, she says, along with the students. Several students, she adds, told her, “We’ll help you learn the rules.”
Frederick officially took over as principal at HES in July, but she worked to make the transition smoother by using some of her vacation days to visit Harvard before school let out last June. She took part in planning meetings and got to know people and the school.
Frederick has been familiarizing herself with other areas of Harvard beyond the town center, too. She has ridden her bicycle around town and also plans to ride the school buses to become familiar with the various neighborhoods. Frederick said she had visited Fruitlands over the summer and had also been told about the Farmers’ Market.
Although she has taken part in several charity triathlons in the past, Frederick said she did not do the Harvard Lions Club Bare Hill Triathlon last June. “I wasn’t quite in shape for the Harvard hills yet,” she admitted. However, she plans to do the the Hyannis Sprint II triathlon this Saturday. The event includes a quarter-mile ocean swim, a 10-mile bike ride, and a 3.5-mile run.
Asked about new projects getting underway at HES, Frederick cited the 1:World (“one-to-world”) program, under which fifth-graders came to school with their parents a couple of days before the start of classes and received iPads that they will use in all subject areas as the year goes on. Frederick explained that some stories used in language arts classes will be on the iPads. In science, children might record data or observations on the devices or research a topic. In general, she said, the project will help students learn to integrate technology into their education.
A family of educators
Frederick comes from a family of educators. Her grandfather was a middle-school principal near Albany, N.Y., and later became dean of education in the SUNY system. Her father was a professor of history and sociology, also in upstate New York, and two uncles were also professors.
Frederick herself took a different route, starting out working with children and adolescents in the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, later the Department of Youth Services. Through the nonprofit Key program in Pittsfield, she worked with young people in a residential center.
Her experience in Pittsfield led Frederick to an interest in clinical psychology, and she returned to school to earn a master’s degree in school psychology. She followed that up with a certificate of advanced graduate study in educational psychology at American International College in Springfield. Throughout, she worked mainly with children in elementary and middle schools.
From 2008 until this June, Frederick was principal of the Elmwood Elementary School in Millbury. Before that, she served for three years as principal at the Lt. Elmer J. McMahon School in Holyoke.
“For me,” Frederick said, “this is a year of learning about the strengths and weaknesses of HES. … Schools are always a balance of tradition and innovation.”
