Local Principal Hired To Head CRLS

After more than a year, and two national searches to find a principal for Cambridge’s single public high school, a Cambridge elementary school principal has been selected for the position.

Sybil Knight, who has served since 1998 at the Maria L. Baldwin School (formerly the Agassiz School) on Oxford St., will take the helm of the Cambridge Rindge at Latin School (CRLS) Monday.

CRLS has been without a permanent principal for over a year, since Paula Evans resigned the position after just two years.

At the Baldwin School, Knight was known for her consensus-building, her ability to listen, her clear decision-making and her knowledge about instruction, according to Superintendent of Schools Bobbie J. D’Alessandro.

Knight was central in getting the name of her school changed from Agassiz to Baldwin, the name of the first black school principal in the state who headed the Agassiz School for 33 years.

Knight’s commitment to Cambridge and experience in the city made her a favorable candidate. Knight also has experience as a high school teacher and administrator in Florida.

I want someone who’s committed to Cambridge, who’s going to be here for the long-term,” D’Alessandro said yesterday.

In May, D’Alessandro offered the position to Boston public schools administrator Sidney Smith, who accepted but then declined.

Leonard Solo, a former head of the Graham and Parks School, had originally planned to retire a year ago, but stayed on as the interim principal of CRLS last year. He will now retire from his work in Cambridge schools.

Although some parents and community members expressed concern at the time about not being able to find qualified candidates in time for the start of the school year, D’Alessandro said that they ended up getting a stronger pool of candidates than they did in the first search process.

“It was a pretty comprehensive search,” D’Alessandro said.

The field of candidates was narrowed to three this spring, who then took part in a series of three separate interviews with teachers, students and community members.

The two finalists were Knight and Jim Slemp, a high school principal from Eugene, Ore.

D’Alessandro commended Knight for being “committed to the redesign” of CRLS, a process begun in 2000 in which the school district’s sole high school is dividing into five small schools, which are randomly assigned to students.

“I’m looking for a leader—that’s very important now,” D’Alessandro said, adding that there will be “tough decisions in the redesign.”

“I know they are striving for academic achievement and equity in every school, and with that, we can’t lose...I want to be part of the change process,” Knight told The Boston Globe.

—Staff writer Stephanie M. Skier can be reached at skier@fas.harvard.edu.