Soon, a High Plain drifter: Beloved Principal Brenda O'Brien latest to retire

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April 2, 2009

7 of 10 principals have retired or resigned since start of 2007

By Bethany Bray

Brenda O'Brien, longtime Andover educator and much-beloved principal at High Plain Elementary, has announced she intends to retire at the end of this school year.

O'Brien is the most veteran principal in place in Andover's 10 schools. With O'Brien and Andover High School Principal Peter Anderson leaving at the end of this year, seven of the town's 10 principals will be have been replaced in the past two years.

Moira O'Brien, principal at Shawsheen Primary School will be the longest-serving principal in the district (see sidebar, page 15). Moira O'Brien was hired in 2002, taking over the Shawsheen principal job from Brenda O'Brien, who moved to High Plain elementary.

Brenda O'Brien said she has "nothing but happy memories" in her 30 years in Andover, and called the decision to retire and care for her 94-year-old mother "very emotional."

"I want to be there for her, because she was always there for me. She's my hero, my role model," she said of her mother, Christina Halstead. "We call her M. Bear, or mother bear. She always has seen life as half-full."

"I will miss the High Plain family terribly. It's been hard work, but important work ... I've always said I have the best job in the world," she said. "I come to school every day with a smile on my face, and come home with an anecdote."

Superintendent Claudia Bach said an advertisement for the High Plain principal position will go into newspapers this weekend, and she will be meeting with focus groups of parents and High Plain staff next week to begin the search process.

After 30 years, O'Brien sees students who are children of her former pupils.

Every year, O'Brien sits down with High Plain fifth-graders for "exit interviews" before they leave for middle school. Those interviews are where she gets some of her best ideas, she said.

"I'm always mystified by the ideas kids have. They'll tell you terrific things. They are my experts," O'Brien said. "I want them to know how honored I am to have taught them, what a great gift they've been to me."

O'Brien said she became an educator because it's in her blood — both of her parents were teachers. Family vacations in her childhood household were educational, including a trip to Detroit to see how cars were made and to Pennsylvania to visit Hershey's chocolate factory.

O'Brien was hired in 1979 as districtwide health education program coordinator. She has also worked as principal of High Plain and Shawsheen schools and as assistant principal at Bancroft Elementary.

In 1991, O'Brien was part of the group that founded Parent to Parent, an Andover not-for-profit network that continues to host guest speakers, promote discussion and connect local parents.

Bach echoed the sentiments of many parents, saying O'Brien is a much-loved educator in town.

"I keep getting e-mail from parents, saying 'Tell me this isn't true' (that O'Brien is retiring)," said Bach. "She's been a major contributor to the district for a number of years."

In 2002, O'Brien was appointed by Bach as principal for the newly-built High Plain Elementary.

Although not without its challenges, O'Brien said opening a new school was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

She gathered a staff of teachers from schools all over the district, and the work came down to the wire when the town didn't have an occupancy permit until just before the first day of school, she said.

The staff brought friends and families, "a whole city of people," said O'Brien, and everyone pitched in to get the classrooms ready.

"I call my staff (at High Plain) pioneers," she said with a smile. "We had more than 20 false fire alarms that first year, always on the worst days with rain and snow. The patience of everybody, and their pioneering spirit was amazing."

Before coming to Andover, O'Brien taught chemistry, biology and health in Wilmington; before teaching, O'Brien worked in pharmaceutical research.

"I've always had a love of science," said O'Brien, "but teaching was my destiny."