EDUCATION

Meet Holly McClanan, the new superintendent at Easton's Southeastern Regional

Christopher Butler
The Enterprise

EASTON — Standing on stage inside Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical High School's performing arts center, school committee member Christine Gaze asked Holly McClanan what her favorite school lunch was growing up.

McClanan, the district's then-assistant superintendent, was one of five remaining candidates in the search for a new superintendent. Gaze asked each candidate the same final question before they left the stage at the public committee meeting on April 5. It was the final round of interviews before five candidates would be narrowed down to two.

McClanan said her favorite lunch was canned Chef Boyardee lasagna. The crowd reacted with audible groans and chuckles.

Two months later, after a long and tumultuous search process, McClanan would be appointed as the new superintendent.

"I was very humbled and excited," she said. "It was very overwhelming when the vote came in."

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The school district she has now inherited from longtime Superintendent Luis Lopes may not serve its students canned lasagna, but that didn't curb her from proudly accepting her new role.

Holly McClanan has been appointed as the superintendent of schools for the Southeastern Regional School District.

McClanan first joined the district in 2013 as the director of human resources. Since then, she's held various roles, including assistant superintendent of human resources, grants and compliance, where she garnered more than $1.8 million in competitive grant funding for the district within three years.

But her tangled journey to the academic world didn't start then. It really started in her role as a stay-at-home mother when she joined the parent committee at her kids' school.

Lopes began cleaning out his office on June 16. He emptied out 15 years from the dark brown, wooden desk that has now become McClanans. Although he didn't officially retire until the end of August, he told McClanan she could start moving into the office July 1.

A winding path to education

When McClanan's husband was diagnosed with cancer in 2004, she knew she had to go back to work. With one year of law school in California under her belt, she decided to attend Northeastern University School of Law.

After her husband died four months later, she got her first job working as a legal analyst for the Massachusetts School Building Authority, where she conducted surveys on the physical conditions of school across the state and helped schools in poor condition secure funding for renovations. Over the course of eight months, she visited and evaluated 1,700 schools.

"I really enjoyed that advocacy piece for people, and through that experience I met the folks here from Southeastern," she said.

Now she's carrying that advocacy piece into her new role as superintendent.

Priorities for the district

McClanan said she's not afraid to have the tough conversations — especially when it comes to diversity and inclusion in the district. She wants to be "upfront and articulate" about issues surrounding anti-racism.

She also plans to look at the enrollment and selection process as many students have to be turned away each year.

In the 2021-22 school year, the district received around 1,400 applications, 425 of whom were admitted. She said she wants to help increase accessibility for students who want vocational technical education.

Perhaps her biggest priority is to "focus on the social-emotional mental health of our students," she said.

The district will work with a independent institution to develop a two-year plan to help educate teachers and faculty on social-emotional issues for students and suicide prevention.

"We need to teach [students] to have help-seeking behaviors and recognize when they need help," McClanan said.

A new era

Having worked in the district for nine years, McClanan said the transition from the Lopes era into the McClanan era shouldn't see too many drastic changes.

"We're a small enough school community that I've been able to develop personal and professional relationships with a lot of our faculty and staff," she said. "That sense of continuity will be helpful."

The main difference is that she wants to handle issues of anti-racism head-on, taking time in her first few weeks to meet with teachers, faculty, parents and students to discuss what they want to see in their school.

Overall, she said she hopes to attend every play and every sports game in order to be the students' "cheerleader."

Enterprise staff reporter Chris Butler can be reached by email at cbutler@enterprisenews.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @Chr1sButler. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Enterprise today.