March 28, 2024

Long Time Aitken Principal Retires

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When the doors open to Mildred H. Aitken Elementary School in Seekonk on August 28, there will be one familiar face missing from the line of smiling staff waiting to welcome the students as they begin a new year.

Although her official last day is June 30, when the school year ends this month, Nancy Gagliardi, Principal at Aitken for the last 18 years, will be saying farewell to her students and staff after a long and distinguished career in education.

2018 marks 41 years that “Mrs. G”, as she is affectionately known around the school, has been either a teacher or a principal, or as she was in one district, a teaching principal. After graduating from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, she began her career teaching 3rd grade in the Petersham, Massachusetts school system. She was named a teaching principal at the Petersham Center School in 1985. From there, she continued her career in school administration in the Bristol-Warren School district in Rhode Island, before being named the principal at Aitken in 2000.

In 2006, Mrs. Gagliardi received the National Distinguished Principal Award from the National Association of Elementary School Principals. NAESP's National Distinguished Principals (NDP) program honors outstanding elementary and middle-level principals who ensure that America's children acquire a sound foundation for lifelong learning and achievement. It is the highest praise a principal can receive from his or her peers. Also, during her tenure, in 2003 the Aitken School was recognized as a “model environment for students to learn and reach their potential” when it became one of only 22 schools in the United States and Canada to be awarded the International Reading Association Exemplary Reading Program Award.

When asked what the biggest change in education during her career, Mrs. Gagliardi doesn’t hesitate to answer “technology”. When she was teaching in Petersham, she applied for and was awarded an IBM grant to receive seven computers for the school. Back then, it was rare for a school to have computers for student’s use – today it is as much a part of the school day as recess.

While she has seen many changes in curriculum development and new policies in education over the years, one thing that has remained constant is her love for her students and staff. While there have been many challenges along the way, she has embraced each one with enthusiasm and a commitment to excellence.

Not one to spend her day sitting behind her desk, Mrs. Gagliardi has been a hands-on principal. Not only has she been a frequent visitor in the classroom, she could be found anywhere from the cafeteria to the playground or outside at dismissal time. As a leader, she believes that you shouldn’t ask your staff to do something you wouldn’t do, so she is no stranger to getting her hands dirty.

As for her plans for retirement? Well, she hopes to continue to be involved in education on some level, but at the top of her agenda is travel. She and her husband Christopher, who retired a year and a half ago, plan to take road trips around the USA, something they did with their two children, Emily and Joseph, when they were growing up.

Like most newly retired folks, she is eager to begin this chapter of her life. Yet since she lives in the neighborhood, she fully expects to see her former students and colleagues frequently.

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