Dear IACS Community,
As our 25th year as a school comes to a close, we’re sending a final edition of The Hawk. This year posed unprecedented challenges to IACS (and schools nationwide) and I’m so proud of how well we worked together as a community. As we look forward to our next five-year charter term, I want to share some updates for next year.
In an effort to create more connections between our middle school and high school academic programs, Melissa Kapeckas (our long-serving Middle School Principal) will become our Director of Curriculum and Instruction. In this position she will oversee the school’s academic program, grades 5-12. Clare Ringwall, our former High School Dean of Faculty, will support Melissa in this work as our new Assistant Director of Curriculum and Instruction.
Federico Pereyra and Stephanie Kelly (formerly Deans of Faculty) will continue overseeing student life and school culture as Middle and High School Assistant Principals, respectively. As before, Federico and Stephanie will focus their efforts on building and fostering the positive relationships shared between students, families, and staff, all of which are essential to a strong school culture. Erik Arnold, our high school principal, will expand school wide administrative responsibilities by being the Grade 5-12 Principal. Our Student Services department will continue to be lead by Director Aimee Voleti and Assistant Director Leanne Barnes.
Joining our administrative team, I’m also excited to welcome Shantelle Castle as our first Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Shantelle is new to our school community and comes with versatile experiences supporting students and leading professional development with adult learners. The DEI Director role is one that will work with students and families of all grade levels.
The Hawk may be resting for much of July, but we’ll start ramping up new editions for the 2021-2022 school year in early August. In the meantime, if you have general questions please contact our main office which remains open 8 am to 3 pm Monday through Friday: mainoffice@innovationcharter.org or (978) 649-0432 x 0.
In partnership,
Greg Orpen
Head of School
Innovation Academy Charter School