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Buzzell to keep the reins at Bristol Elementary

TOM BUZZELL

BRISTOL — Bristol Elementary School Interim Principal Thomas Buzzell has been selected as the school’s next permanent principal, Mount Abraham Unified School District Superintendent Patrick Reen confirmed this week.
Reen said the search committee’s weeks-long process concluded on Friday, Feb. 14, the day after Buzzell and the other finalist, Addison Central School principal and BES alum Kathleen Kilbourne, spent the day visiting the school and meeting with parents and community members in the evening.
Reen said the news that Buzzell had accepted a contract was welcomed at a school-wide assembly on that Friday afternoon that was attended by families and residents as well as students and staff members.
“The crowd’s standing ovation combined with Principal Buzzell’s brief address that followed confirmed for me what seemed evident in the feedback I received,” Reen wrote in an email to the Independent. “Mr. Buzzell is a good fit for Bristol Elementary and the Bristol community.”
Reen described the qualities that led to the removal of interim from Buzzell’s title.
“Mr. Buzzell’s experience, approachability, student-centered philosophy and calm demeanor helped him rise to the top of the candidate pool and ultimately led to his selection for the position,” Reen said.
Buzzell served as the BES librarian during the 2018-2019 school year before taking over as interim principal this past fall. Previously he worked as the principal and librarian of Middlebury’s Mary Hogan Elementary School. He has also taught science and run a library at the high school level.
The Hinesburg resident said he is glad to be staying on at BES.
“I am pleased and honored to have been selected as Bristol Elementary School’s principal,” he wrote in an email. “I have found BES to have a talented faculty and staff and I am looking forward to working with them in the coming years. The work we’ll do as a school will focus on supporting our students to achieve academic excellence while developing their social, emotional and physical wellbeing.”
Buzzell said he also looks forward to continuing to develop close ties with the community and to being a member of the MAUSD leadership team.
“As a school administrator you find yourself working closely with the parent community, and the BES parents were very supportive of my candidacy and of our students as a whole,” he wrote. “Another related aspect of the principalship involves working with the District Administrative Leadership Team, and the district team here has a well defined mission with supporting professional development that improves the teaching practices across the district’s schools.”
In his introductory remarks to the community leading up to the Feb. 13 school visit and community meeting, Buzzell added a few personal details to his credentials.
“I reside in Hinesburg with my wife and we have four children,” he wrote. “When not at work I may be found kayaking the rivers and lakes in the Champlain Valley or hiking one of the area’s lower summits.”
Buzzell becomes the second MAUSD interim principal this year to be hired as a regular district principal. Mount Abraham Union High School Principal Shannon Warden also recently had the interim tag removed from her title.

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