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FRAMINGHAM – There are new principals ate Stapleton Elementary School and King Elementary School for the 2021-2022 school year.
James Bergeron, the former Vice Principal at Walsh Middle School, will lead King Elementary this year.
And Sara Costa Yuen, a former charter school principal, will lead Stapleton Elementary.
Superintendent of Schools Bob Tremblay visited 14 schools today, September 1, with school resource officer Kathy McGrath.
One of his final stops was Stapleton where he delivered flowers to the new principal.
Yuen told Tremblay the students were just finishing up lunch and that overall the students and staff were excited to be back in the classrooms.
Principal Yuen was hired in April 2021 and started on July 1.
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“I am thrilled to join the Stapleton Elementary community and Framingham Public Schools,” said Yuen, when hired. “I had the pleasure of working in Framingham several years ago and very much look forward to returning to the city. I have dedicated my career in education to working towards equitable outcomes for all students and am excited to continue that work with the Stapleton team. During the interview process, I was energized by the incredible Stapleton students and the meaningful questions and conversations with teachers, staff, and parents. As a member of the Brazilian community and a Portuguese and Spanish speaker, I seek to ensure that all families feel included in the life of the school.”
She was a program director for the Non-Profit Portuguese Language School of the MetroWest Mission Hub (ProGente Connections). Prior to that Yuen taught Math and English Language Arts in the Phoenix Charter Academy Chelsea and Social Studies in the Lawrence Public Schools.
Having received a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations with a Minor in Latin American Studies from Boston University, she received her Master of Education in Education Policy and Management from Harvard University.
Yuen replaces Anne Diaz who took a medical leave in February 2020, before the pandemic began.
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Over at King, Bergeron began his role at King during the 2020-21 school year, when he was named interim principal for the K-5 school on Water Street.
Bergeron took over for former King Elementary School Principal Allison Benabdallah who went on leave in Spring 2021. Benabdallah previously served as a vice principal at King Elementary before she was named principal in May 2020.
Bergeron is the sixth principal in seven years at the George P. King School, since it re-opened as an elementary school.
The school’s 2019-2020 principal Dr. Marguerite Lackard took a leave of absence in the fall of 2019, and it was announced in January 2020 she would remain on leave through the end of that school year.
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Prior to Dr. Lackard, former Principal Lucia Laguarda split her time between Hemenway Elementary and King Elementary when the K-5 school first opened.
Then, former Dunning Elementary principal Kim Taylor took over after her and stayed in the position from 2015-2018, until she left to become the head of the Dedham Public Schools preschool program.
Former Wilson Elementary Vice Principal John Maynard was then hired to lead the school from 2018-2019, and left after one year.
Then Lackard was given the principal post for the 2019-2020 school year.
The class of 2019-2020 was the first class to graduate from re-opened elementary school on Water Street.
Like all of the Framingham Public Schools, King Elementary closed in March 2020 and didn’t fully welcome students back to the classroom until spring 2021, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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