Published: November 2019 Issue of The Bradford, available online here.
As a new assistant principal at the high school, Ms. Sarah Matloff values the opportunity to teach again. Here she helps Justin Franklin ’23, a student in her Foundations in Mathematics class, co-taught by Ms. Carol Boswell. Photo by Kate Waisel.
“An immediate team player.” That’s how Principal’s Secretary Diane Zinck described Ms. Sarah Matloff. “She just put her uniform on immediately and was on the field, and we were all playing on the team,” Zinck said.
After Mrs. Lynne Novogroski retired at the end of last year, Matloff assumed her position as the assistant principal for the Bradford house. Matloff spent the last 23 years at Framingham High School — eight as a math teacher and fifteen as a vice principal.
With the addition of Matloff to the administrative team, the assistant principals shifted their responsibilities this year.
Mr. Marc Bender became the department head of family and consumer sciences, as Novogroski was, and Matloff took on advisories and scheduling, which used to be Bender’s responsibility.
“Mr. Bender has been insanely patient and helpful to me. He loves to laugh the whole time, as Mr. Bender likes to do anyways, and he especially loves to laugh at me because I'm doing scheduling now. But he's been really supportive,” Matloff said.
For advisories, Matloff has had to roll over each grade’s advisories to the next grade level and create the new freshman advisories; she credits Bradford House Assistant Cheryl Rose with doing a lot of that work.
Beyond these responsibilities, Matloff also co-teaches Foundations in Mathematics 9 with Ms. Carol Boswell and participated in a project for Ms. Emily Giddings’s Discovering Psychology class.
“One of the things I'm most excited about is how much time I'm spending in the classroom. In my previous job, [teaching] was not only something that I couldn't do, it was against my contract. Administrators aren't allowed to teach. That is a part of my life I thought I had said goodbye to forever. And so it's been amazing,” Matloff said.
“Ms. Matloff is always excited to interact with students, and she adds a really positive element to the class,” said Ben Mirsky ’20, a student in Discovering Psychology.
Since coming to the high school, Matloff has noticed a difference in culture compared to her previous job.
“It feels very free here for educators and for kids. The overall student behavior, like the energy in the building, is really positive. And even if it's because they know what they're supposed to be doing, kids are really polite, like the number of kids I hear say thank you to teachers in the class or thank Ms. Rose without any prompting,” Matloff said.
Coming from an established career at Framingham, Matloff found the beginning of the year difficult because she didn’t know a lot of people here.
“It's going from knowing absolutely everything about everyone in the entire building to being the opposite of that. I even got kind of lost one day. I went up the back stairs by the gym, and then they didn't go up anymore. And I was trying to get the fourth floor and I saw a kid who I kind of recognized and I was like, ‘how do I get upstairs?’ I go around the corner. So it's comical to me,” Matloff said.
Although the building was full of unfamiliar faces, Matloff felt welcomed from the start, noting how wonderful Principal Dr. Jamie Chisum and Zinck have been. Zinck even welcomed Matloff with a big hug.
Matloff especially looks forward to getting to know more students, and she wishes she could visit the cafeteria more, but her Foundations in Mathematics class meets green block.
“I haven't been able to get to the cafeteria at all. So that's a real change because I think that's a great place to see kids interact with one another in a more casual setting,” Matloff said.
Chisum tasked each of the assistant principals with an area of his goals, and he gave Matloff diversity, equity, and inclusion. This includes working with One Wellesley, Dr. Charmie Curry, the new diversity director, and Ms. Doreen Ward, the METCO director.
“That's something I'm passionate about and was one of my concerns coming from Framingham to Wellesley. But I think that's a really nice opportunity for me. I think without realizing it, I bring some insights and conversations about things just because I'm an outsider,” Matloff said.
Beyond just one area of his goals, Chisum looks forward to Matloff’s contributions to the high school.
“She brings a lot of experience and a lot of fresh perspective. It is so clear early on how hard she works. She is trying so hard to get to know every person in this building and people in the community. I think that’s the right approach. It’s been a great start,” Chisum said.
Simply put, Matloff is happy to be here.
“I feel very fortunate to work here,” Matloff said. “I feel very, very lucky that I got the job.”