Three new principals named in Franklin School District

By EILEEN O’GRADY

Monitor staff

Published: 07-04-2022 11:07 AM

There will be some big leadership changes in Franklin schools next year, as the district has hired three new principals for each of its three schools.

Dave Levesque

Dave Levesque will take over as the new principal at Franklin High School in July, replacing former principal Carrie Charette. Levesque is coming to Franklin from the Laconia School District, where he was the principal at Pleasant Street School for the last nine years, after starting out as a guidance counselor and then an assistant principal at Laconia High School.

While at Pleasant Street School, Levesque helped a school that was trauma-informed and supported students through a variety of innovative ideas. Levesque started a program called “Project PAWS” (Providing Awesome Weekend Support) to feed students and families on the weekend. School attendance was nearly 95% each year while behavioral referrals decreased and test scores steadily increased during his tenure, and the school was awarded the “NH School of Excellence” in 2017. In 2018, Levesque was named the “NH Elementary Principal of the Year” by the NH Excellence in Education program.

Levesque, who got his BS in Physical Education, his MEd in Guidance and Counseling and his MEd in Educational Leadership from Plymouth State University, is currently the President-Elect for the NH Association of School Principals and is a Board Member for NH Excellence in Education Awards. Levesque has been featured on NHPR and has spoken at a number of conferences about creating school culture and climate, and is also involved in mentoring new principals across the state.

Virginia Everett

Virginia Everett will take over as principal at Franklin Middle School, replacing former principal Ken Darsney who retired in June. Everett is coming to Franklin from the Lincoln-Woodstock Cooperative School District, where she has spent the last six years as the director of elementary education, as well as building administrator, curriculum guide and North Country liaison for the state Curriculum Instruction and Assessment (CIA) group. She has had a “tremendously enjoyable” career as a high school English teacher in both Maryland and New Hampshire.

Everett holds a master’s degree in Educational Leadership and a CAGS in District Leadership. She has extensive training in trauma-informed practices for both the classroom and the school, as well as studies in discipline designed with understanding best practices for each brain state and working from there to help regulate behaviors. Outside of school, Virginia can be found at the barn with her horse, kayaking, running, reading or painting.

Bob LaRoche

Bob LaRoche will take over as principal at Paul Smith Elementary, replacing former principal Susan Blair. Laroche is coming to Franklin after serving as interim principal at Florence Rideout Elementary School in the Wilton-Lyndeborough School District. LaRoche began his teaching career working with high school students with learning disabilities in an alternative program, and later taught at the elementary and middle school levels in Massachusetts, Maryland, and Connecticut, and coached high school track and field and football before becoming a school administrator. Laroche spent five years as a middle school assistant principal and 14 years as an elementary school principal in both Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

LaRoche grew up in Watertown, Mass. and joined the U.S. Marine Corps after high school where he served on active duty for four years before attending college at the University of Massachusetts. Working with people with developmental disabilities during a part-time job in college sparked an interest in helping some of the most vulnerable members of the population, and prompted him to return to school to get a master’s degree in education and begin classroom teaching. He remained in uniform as a member of the reserves and was deployed three times in support of Operation Enduring Freedom working in the intelligence field and retired from the military in 2015. Outside of school, LaRoche enjoys traveling, reading, following local sports and doing outdoor activities like boating and hiking.

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