Meet the New McCall Middle School Principal

Newly employed Middle School Principal, Jorge Goncalves, plans to “hit the ground learning,” looking forward to meeting the faculty, students and parents of students at McCall as the school years kicks off today.

“I’ve been preparing at the McCall for the last two months,” detailed Goncalves. “My chief task as the school year begins are to learn as much as possible about the school, the town and the people and make sure we start on time.”

Goncalves is hoping to establish a collaborative effort between staff, parents and students in an effort to better McCall from the ground up.

Coming off an Assistant Principal tour of duty for the past seven years at Beverly’s Briscoe Middle School, Goncalves hopes to take what he learned as the right hand man to the principal in Beverly and apply it to McCall.

“The staff, parents, students and myself have to build a collaboration in order to find out what isn’t working and what is so we can all have like goals,” mentioned Goncalves.

One of the major focuses Goncalves is already aiming his sights on is the yearly MCAS test, mandatory for all students.

“We have to assess teacher management and study tactics in order to get the best social, behavioral and academic performances we can out of our students,”’ explained Goncalves in relation to MCAS testing and general school activity.

When asked about extra curricular activities, Goncalves was pleased to say, “McCall has tremendous programs in place this year. What makes our extra cirriculars are so special is that teachers come up with the various activities based on student feedback and then the students sign up and participate, again, it goes with my theme of collaboration.”

When asked how he would handle disciplinary measures, Principal Goncalves stated: “Punishment has to be fair and consistent. In regards to the age-level of students, it’s not so much telling what not to do, but what they can do to foster pro-social behavior, that is our biggest hurdle here.”

Principal Goncalves also discussed his concerns to be extra vigilant against the new struggles of dealing with cyber-bullying and other Internet related troubles concerning student behavior.

Goncalves may have some big shoes to fill, taking over for former Principal Evander French’s decades of loyal service to the town, not to mention the immediate response to take the lead from interim Principal Ralph Morrata who was principal at McCall for just the 2010-11 school year. Regardless, Goncalves is confident that he has what it takes to continue the successes of McCall and move it in a positive direction in the future.

“I’ve spent my entire career in middle school,” said Goncalves. “I understand the middle school aged child and I feel I will be effective as their principal. I’m very excited to get started.”

Principal Goncalves welcomes any and all comments, questions or concerns regarding the McCall Middle School from parents, students and faculty. If you would like to give Goncalves your two cents, give him a call at 781-721-7026, extension 1117.