SPRINGFIELD — Two respected administrators were promoted to serve as the first assistant superintendents the school department has seen in several years.
Superintendent Sonia Dinnall announced she had selected Jose Escribano as assistant superintendent of community engagement, family empowerment and partnerships, and Terry Powe as assistant superintendent of curriculum, instruction and professional development.
The promotions were welcomed with applause from an audience recently, as unanimous votes and accolades came from School Committee members last week.
Escribano, who was hired by Springfield schools as an adjustment counselor in 2011, has spent the past three years as the department’s chief of family and community engagement. Prior to that he also served as an assistant principal and principal, Dinnall said.
“We found an individual who is well-known and well-respected in this community … who has done his due diligence to build strong bridges from the classroom to the home and from the home back to the classroom,” Dinnall said.
She added that Escribano has built strong relationships with outside businesses and organizations, and has removed barriers to empower families to become strong partners in their children’s education.
Powe, who started her career in education in Springfield in 1998, has held many roles in the school department. She is currently a successful principal at Elias Brookings School, Dinnall said.
“This individual selected is deeply loved, well-respected, well-known throughout the city. She has done a great deal of work at her current school,” Dinnall said. “Brookings was not the school back then that it is now.”
Powe has been credited with turning around the school, receiving accolades from the state for making many steady improvements.
Dinnall said when she was searching for an assistant superintendent of curriculum, she carefully vetted applicants to find a leader who had the skills to ensure teachers get the support and training they need to go from good to great.
This is the first time in several years Springfield schools will have assistant superintendents. Now-retired Superintendent Daniel Warwick decided against replacing the assistant superintendent when she retired in 2022, instead relying on his chief of schools as his second in command.
The School Committee opened the possibility of returning to a system of assistant superintendents, after Dinnall took over in July and began evaluating and building her own administrative team. In February, she announced plans to create the two positions.
“You were made for this. I’m so excited for you,” said board member Denise Hurst, who talked about Escribano having the skills to bring families, schools and the community together, as he did when the two were social workers together years ago.
Others echoed their approvals. School Committee member Christopher Collins said he was unsurprised Escribano moved to the top of the list of candidates, because of his widespread experience in different roles in Springfield, saying he has “walked the walk.”
Escribano thanked Dinnall, his other co-workers and the School Committee, and said one of his goals is to create stronger partners nationwide.
“I’m really passionate about working with families and making sure that they understand their power, and that they have a say in their students’ education,” he said.
The School Committee was equally effusive about their respect and confidence in Powe.
“I just remember you for so many years, just decades, loving kids and loving families,” said LaTonia Monroe Naylor, School Committee vice chairwoman. “You (show) people that there’s a possibility for a community of folks that sometimes have been counted out.”
She also recognized Powe’s leadership skills, as well as her empathy, and how she intentionally develops a strategy of how teachers can help students improve.
“I love my students, and I love my staff, and I will spread that love throughout the city,” Powe said. “We have work to do, so I am committed to putting 100% into whatever is needed to get our students to greater levels of proficiency.”
