Bella Wong
Bella Wong, Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School’s Superintendent/Principal for almost a decade, will not be returning in the fall in what L-S School Committee Chair Heather Cowap said was a mutual decision.
In a statement, the committee praised Wong’s fiscal management, work in building community within the school, and strengthening special education and accommodation services, particularly in overseeing creation of the Beacon, Link, ACE, Excel, L-S Academy, and Partners programs. Many of these programs have allowed students to remain at L-S who might otherwise have to be placed out of district at another school that was better equipped to educate and support them — a costly alternative.
Those programs were a joint effort between Wong and the special education staff at L-S. “It was very much a collaboration and a willingness to say yes, let’s do this and commit to the kids in this way,” Cowap said.
In an email to the Lincoln Squirrel, Wong also pointed to those efforts as one of her key achievements. “We’ve extended services for students with emotional disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, transitional needs, and non-language disabilities. We’ve also expanded targeted intervention services for students not on IEPs or 504 plans. This is rare at the high school level,” she said.
Wong said she was proud of the school’s expanded student access to travel abroad (a “personal interest” of hers) and “coming strong” out strong out of the pandemic. “We completed several tasks on time such as review of our schedule, developing a new advisory program, and successful completion of our decennial NEASC accreditation. Our students report being well supported by adults at school,” she said.
However, it was clearly time for a change, not only due to Wong’s long tenure at L-S but also because of some public discontent. “From the School Committee point of view, there’s been a very loud community majority asking for new leadership,” Cowap said. “The most consistent ongoing concern has been communication, which has been a confusing conversation because in her evaluation survey, parent feedback said it was fine and they were being provided with information, and yet we’ve heard from the general public in emails and other venues such as personal conversations that they find the communication frustrating and confusing.”
Most Massachusetts school superintendents serve terms of five to six years; “ten years a phenomenally long time to serve in a district,” Cowap said. “You reach a point where you need fresh eyes, new ideas, a new approach.”
The School Committee has begun looking for a search firm to identify a replacement for Wong. and will discuss it at its October 25 meeting. The firm will help map out a timeline and hiring process. Although the goal is to have a new superintendent on board by July 1, “as a committee, we’re unwilling to rush the process,” Cowap said, adding that an interim hire was possible if the right candidate didn’t emerge.
Becky McFall, superintendent of the Lincoln Public Schools, also recently announced her retirement. The Lincoln School Committee has hired the Edward J. Collins Center Center for Public Management at the University of Massachusetts–Boston as its search firm. “Certainly we’ll consider them, but we’re not necessarily expecting that we’ll be using them” for the parallel L-S search, Cowap said.
Wong was named interim superintendent/principal in June 2013 after two other interim candidates dropped out. She has already been at L-S for 14 years (seven as a science teacher and seven as a department coordinator). Previously she was an assistant superintendent and superintendent in Wellesley. She resigned from the latter position in 2012 following public concern over the operations of the district’s business office, according to a 2013 Boston Globe article.
I’m saddened to hear that parents complained about communication from Superintendent Wong. I felt that was one of her strengths. She led the school through the pandemic with grace, despite the myriad unknowns and changing circumstances. Her messages about national events were thoughtful and deeply considerate. I’m grateful she was in charge during these past few difficult years.