Back to School: New Lynch Principal Happy to be back in Winchester

After spending 14 years teaching first and second grade at the Vinson-Owen Elementary School in Winchester, Christine Kelley left to become principal of the Clapp-Goodyear Elementary School in Woburn in 2006.

Now, four years later, Kelley is back in Winchester, only this time she'll be heading up the Lynch Elementary School.

"Like all the schools in Winchester, there's such a dynamic staff and a talented staff," said Kelley. "There's such a great energy here. That's what I was looking for. I was looking for families and staff that were really invested in kids and invested in education and that's what I have here."

Kelley was officially offered the job in April after a tight race between Phyllis Dubina, the former principal of the Dolbeare Elementary School in Wakefield and current Dolbeare principal Beth Yando.

Kelley will be taking the place of Dr. Stephen Goodwin, who after four years as principal at Lynch, took over as principal of the Sprague Elementary School in Wellesley.

"The good news is that Steve Goodwin left the school in really good shape," said Kelley, who lives in Reading. "So I think he had really done a great job of building teams and working on camaraderie. It's always been a great school, but I think because it's a big school it's hard to blend everyone together and I think he did a great job with that."

Since officially taking over on July 1, Kelley has spent much of the summer getting to know the staff at Lynch along with some of the parents. Thanks to her long tenure at Vinson-Owen, Kelley said the transition so far has been an easy one.

"I came and met the staff a couple of times and visited the school," said Kelley. "I think because I had already been employed in Winchester it wasn't a huge transition because I knew a lot of the teachers.  My first plan of business is to just get feedback. I'm going to make appointments to talk to different groups and just listening to people to get a sense of what people's wants and needs are."

While she still has to wait to meet her students, Kelley said some of the kids playing in the playground got a head start and took it upon themselves to come up and knock on her window to say hello.  

For Kelley, becoming a principal in Woburn seemed like a huge departure from the teaching career that she loved so much. But after settling in, she soon realized she was wrong.

"I love teaching and I loved being a teacher," said Kelley. "I really thought I would miss the interaction with the kids. I think for me I was surprised that I didn't because I still had interaction with the kids. Instead of having 20 babies that are mine I now have 400. For me that's been the best unexpected pleasure, is that I still feel very involved with children even though I'm not their classroom teacher anymore."
  
Now with four years of experience under her belt, Kelley said she feels confident taking the reins at Lynch and isn't feeling nearly as overwhelmed as she did when she took over in Woburn.

And with three children of her own (one heading to college, one starting high school and one in fourth grade), Kelley is looking to build upon her experience with both her own kids and her students to take the Lynch Elementary School to the next level.

 "I think that makes me uniquely suited for the roll of principal because I've sort of been there and done that," said Kelley. "I know what elementary kids look like, I have one and I've raised two others and I do think that helps."
   
"I'm just thrilled to be back in Winchester. Woburn was great to me and was a great community for me to be first principal in. I enjoyed my time there tremendously. I'm very excited to be in Winchester and I feel like this is a really good fit for me."