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Photo courtesy of Westwood Public Schools. Pictured is Emily Parks, who is leaving her position as superintendent of Westwood Public Schools to become executive director at The Education Cooperative.
6-24-2023 12:11am
Superintendent Emily Parks Leaves WPS with a Legacy of Academic Excellence
Darlene Cancell
Editor
By Darcie Fisher for Westwood Public Schools
Many people say change isn’t easy, but that may be particularly true for Westwood’s Superintendent of Schools Emily Parks. Parks has spent her entire professional career working in the Westwood Public Schools and will be leaving the district at the end of this school year.
“There is something really special about the professional culture and the student culture and the community of Westwood,” said Parks. “It’s a community where education is really important and where the residents really invest in education.”
Photo courtesy of Westwood Public Schools. Thirty years after her first position with Westwood Public Schools as a student teacher, Superintendent Emily Parks (left) is leaving the district for a new challenge at The Education Cooperative in Walpole.Parks will be taking over as the Executive Director of the The Education Cooperative (TEC), which is a consortium of 15 public school districts—including Westwood.
“I feel like this really is an interesting next step where I’ll be working with a bunch of school districts acting together for the good of students,” said Parks. “It will be professionally challenging to have a different vantage point on schools, but one that allows me to still serve students and their families.”
The daughter and granddaughter of educators, one might assume Parks always planned to be a teacher, but she actually started college as a psychology major. She said something about education kept pulling her so she spent time volunteering as a student teacher at Cambridge Rindge & Latin School while in college. That experience led her to enter the Teacher Education Program at Harvard University. Parks did her student teaching at Westwood in the fall of 1993, a role which eventually led her to serve as principal of Westwood High School before assuming the position of superintendent in 2017.
Photo courtesy of Westwood Public Schools. With her academic background that includes a masters from Harvard's Education School, Emily Parks has been praised for supporting a culture of academic excellence and inclusion at Westwood Public Schools.“When I became a teacher, I think I still thought I was going to go to graduate school and become a clinical psychologist,” recalls Parks, “but I loved being part of a school community and having such a clear sense of purpose.”
Parks says she was intrigued by how school systems and cultures are created, and it was this curiosity that led her to return to Harvard’s Education School to pursue a master’s degree in Administration, Planning & Social Policy.
The chair of the Westwood Select Board, Marianne LeBlanc, called Parks an “extraordinary leader in challenging times”.
“Emily leaves behind a legacy of academic excellence and a culture of inclusion in the Westwood Public Schools,” said LeBlanc. “I’ve had the great pleasure of working directly with Emily over the years on both the finance committee and the Select Board, and I am deeply grateful for her many significant contributions to our community, which will benefit generations to come in Westwood. She will be greatly missed.”
Maya Plotkin has worked closely with Parks while a member of the school committee.
“Throughout her tenure, Emily has demonstrated exceptional leadership and unwavering dedication to WPS students and families,” said Plotkin. “Her guidance during the COVID-19 pandemic was particularly noteworthy, as she enabled the district to remain academically sound while simultaneously prioritizing the safety and support of students, faculty. and staff. Her compassionate and engaging approach has left an indelible mark on our community and her departure will be deeply felt.”
Parks points to the district’s expansion of the METCO program, the design and construction of the new Pine Hill Elementary School, and the creation of J-Term – a week at the end of the school year where high school students can try classes not typically offered during the school year – as her proudest accomplishments.
Photo courtesy of Westwood Public Schools. One of the proudest achievements of Superintendent Emily Parks (pictured here in yellow scarf) while at Westwood Public Schools was working on the design and construction of the new Pine Hill Elementary School.She has also enjoyed watching programs she implemented while principal at the high school grow, flourish, and improve in ways she said she “never could have imagined.”
“I’ve been in the district for a long time and had the opportunity to
hire many people,” said Parks. “To watch them take the reins and build on
so many programs has been incredibly satisfying.”
Updated 6/24/2023 at 12:28 p.m. A caption that incorrectly stated when Emily Parks first worked at Westwood Public Schools has been corrected.
