Glenn Burns tapped to lead Salem High School

May 7—SALEM — Glenn Burns, the former Collins Middle School principal, will take over as Salem High School principal as of July 1, the district announced Friday.

Burns, principal at Haverhill High School, will replace Samantha Meier, who plans to leave the district at the end of the school year due to family reasons.

Burns led Collins from 2014 to 2018, when he followed former Salem assistant superintendent Margaret Marotta to the Haverhill Public School district.

Salem Superintendent Steve Zrike said Burns' past experience in Salem made him an attractive candidate.

"That was a big part of it," Zrike said. "Obviously it has to be more than just relationships with people, but that's really important given the turns we've seen at the leadership level at Salem High."

Zrike said Salem underwent "a very comprehensive process" in its fourth consecutive principal search in as many years.

"I don't know if I've ever talked to more people in a search I've been involved in in my career," Zrike said. "We probably had close to 75 or 100 responses and input during the process, and a lot of people stopping me in hallways and sending me emails. There has been a lot of dialog."

Burns' departure from Salem in 2018 came amid a time of turmoil for the school district. Salem High has endured rotating leaders on a nearly annual basis since 2017, when David Angeramo left. Since then, there have been abrupt shifts in leadership both at Salem High and in the district's central office. Meier joined Salem High as an interim principal in 2019, just after the city parted ways with former superintendent Margarita Ruiz. Ruiz had come under fire after announcing the abrupt resignation of a previous Salem High School principal and, at the same time, announcing she had already appointed an interim principal for the next 18 months.

Meier was appointed to be the permanent principal in April 2020, during the initial weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic. Zrike joined the district later that year.

With that history in mind, Zrike said it was important for the next Salem High principal to have both a deep connection to the community and a passion for wanting to be in Salem.

"I wouldn't be doing the due diligence if I didn't have the conversation with Mr. Burns about his commitment to the district," he said.

"I feel certain he's committed to being here for a long enough period of time to help ensure the redesign is implemented," Zrike continued, referencing a process that started under Angeramo. "To have that, and his track record, to me makes him the right decision."

Burns' salary was not immediately available on Friday.

Burns has been principal at Haverhill High School for the past three years. In addition to his time at Collins, Burns was a history teacher, redesign coach and assistant principal in the Fall River Public Schools. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bridgewater State College and a Master of Education in Leadership from Providence College.

When leaving Salem in 2018, Burns said it was a professional goal of his "to really move forward, impact more kids around college and career initiatives. I love the (Collins) community, and Collins' successes have been propelled by the support of our families in Salem and an incredible staff. I'm going to take the tools and things I've learned through our STEM initiatives and turn-around in growth and apply much of that to Haverhill High."

Though Burns is returning to Salem, his efforts in Haverhill will serve Salem well. Haverhill High School operates not far from Northern Essex Community College, which has campuses in multiple cities just like the nearby North Shore Community College.

"We've talked a lot about how important early college is with Salem State in our backyard and also North Shore as well. He has experience doing that work," Zrike said. "When he first started (in Haverhill), there were 38 kids in early college — now, there's 220-plus."

The district received 20 applications for the position, which were narrowed down to three finalists: Burns, Elvis Henriquez, principal of Boston's McCormack Middle School, and Chris Mastrangelo, principal at Malden High School.

To respond to this story or suggest another, contact Dustin Luca at 978-338-2523 or DLuca@salemnews.com. Follow him at facebook.com/dustinluca or on Twitter @DustinLucaSN.