Major changes are coming to Milton Public Schools’ administration for the 2025-26 school year. Superintendent Peter Burrows announced that the system would transition away from K-8 coordinators and high school department heads and instead have a single K-12 administrator for each subject. 

He says the goal is to improve curriculum alignment across all grade levels, though he acknowledges that the shift “may leave gaps.”

Currently, the high school administrators for the core subject areas are Amy Tom for science, Brian Selig for math, H Hardie for English, and Barbara Wright for social studies. 

For the 2024-25 school year, Selig and Wright will already serve as K-12 administrators, while Tom and Hardie will remain in high school-only roles. 

Wright transitioned from a 6-12 role to a K-12 role this year, which Burrows described as a “positive move” thus far. 

Next year, Hardie and Tom’s positions will be restructured, as will all K-8 subject-area administrators.

The K-8 coordinators and high school department heads are responsible for developing and implementing curriculum at their respective levels. They all report to Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Regina Watts. 

Burrows was quick to highlight the contributions of staff “working behind the scenes” to develop the curriculum.

Burrows said the change was made to create a more cohesive educational experience, which, as with any decision the administration makes, will “prioritize the students.” 

He believes that having a single administrator oversee all grade levels will improve consistency, particularly for students transitioning from middle to high school. However, he admits that some curriculum gaps may still exist and that “there is always room for improvement.”

Hardie, who teaches freshman English in addition to his administrative responsibilities, said that in his experience, students come to the high school with significant “content skills and how to be a student skills,” adding that Milton is doing “an outstanding job” with the middle to high school transition and curriculum alignment.

Burrows said that staff and administrators have “been pretty open minded” so far in the process, although not everyone is fully on board yet. Hardie said that many high school English teachers are “disappointed” with the decision, since he and them “work well as a team.”

Hardie said he is “absolutely disappointed” with his current role being eliminated. “I know I’ve done a lot in my three years here.” 

During his tenure, the department has made significant progress in increasing “diversity and representation in the materials” they use, and has significantly transformed its course offerings.

Burrows says the district is “still working on” determining exactly what will happen to administrators whose roles are being changed. Hardie says he is “highly optimistic I’ll be in Milton in some role” next year, although he is not sure “what that role will be.”

Since he is inexperienced in elementary and middle school education, Hardie will not be returning as a K-12 administrator. However, he doesn’t “think they’ll have a hard time finding someone who is qualified” to fill that role while acknowledging that it is difficult to find “somebody who is equally skilled in elementary and high school” curriculum development. 

Burrows added that staff support for the change “depends on what you’re used to,” with mixed support from the staff largely being due to their comfort levels with the current system. Each school district has different ways of breaking down administrative responsibilities.

In Massachusetts, Burrows says there is “a mix,” with some towns having district-wide administrators, some having K-8 and high school administrators, and many other combinations.

In fact, Milton has had many different ways of organizing over the years, including high school, K-8, 6-12, and district-wide administrators in just the past two years, varying in subjects. 

Despite the difficulties of the district-level role, Hardie believes the “staff at Milton High School is skilled enough to help anybody make the adjustments” required to be successful.

Milton Public Schools is currently running on a deficit, and there will soon be a town-wide vote on a budget override. Burrows says that the “outcome of that [vote] will determine what we can support” in terms of staffing in the system.