BOE Appoints WWMS Interim Principal: Longtime Portland High Leader Don Gates

At Tuesday's Board of Education meeting, Michael Frechette, Superintendent of Middletown Schools, announced his appointment of Donald Gates as the interim principal of Woodrow Wilson Middle School. 

He replaces Dr. Charles Marqua, who announced his resignation earlier this month after less than a year at Wilson.

Gates was the principal of Portland High School for 31 years before retiring in 2006 and principal of Valley Regional High School for a couple of years, help them regain New England Association of Schools and Colleges accreditation.

Frechette said, “Don is a great fit for Woodrow Wilson and has already been up there a few of times, hitting the ground running.”

In August 2010, Gates was named acting assistant principal at East Hampton High School and before that, assistant principal at East Hampton Middle School.

Gates introduced himself to the rest of the board. “I like a challenge and I think there is a challenge at Woodrow Wilson Middle School. It is my goal to try to bring everyone together as a team to help Woodrow become one of the best schools in the state.  I believe in a safe school environment for the kids.”

The Middletown Board of Education met last night for one last session to reflect upon the close of another school year.  Board members discussed many topics, including a review of the Fine Arts at Middletown High School, general education job postings, approval for a second diesel-electric hybrid school bus and student safety.

Marco Gaylord, music teacher at Middletown High School and K-12 music director for the city of Middletown, presented an end-of-the-year report of the new Fine Arts Program, discussing the success of students in the program. He thanked the board for their support, saying Middletown “had a wonderful year.”

Board members inquired how well Middletown performed this year compared to other districts and were pleased to hear that the Fine Arts Program was a smashing success. 

As Gaylord stated, “I am very proud of how well our students are doing… We have the highest number of students in our region performing at music festivals and state arts competitions.” 

This commitment to the arts is not only during the school year though, as Gaylord informed the board that approximately 150 kids will be participating in the theatre camp for K-12 this summer. Gaylord also said that he is excited for AP scores to arrive and based on the students’ final exams at the high school he expects them to have done very well. 

After thanking Gaylord for his presentation, the board moved on to discuss communications. Of the six to seven general education teaching positions that the Board was looking to fill within the district, all have been filled except for one—a math teacher at the High School. The board also discussed holding off on hiring a professional for media management at Woodrow Wilson Middle School, as a teacher has volunteered to take up the position temporarily.

The meeting concluded with a presentation by the Chief of the Middletown Police Department, Patrick McMahon, in which he evaluated the performance of School Resource Officers this year in Middletown Schools and re-extended his prior offer to provide an additional officer to help promote a safe school environment at Woodrow Wilson Middle School.

As McMahon said, “I briefly discussed with Mr. Grady as I did with this board a while ago, and with a new principal at Woodrow, I renew my offer that I would like to have an officer back at Woodrow as an SRO… The success of the high school has proved that they can become an integral part of the school administration faculty and be a resource.”

Last night’s meeting marks the end of the school year and the board will reconvene in September after the summer is over.