Barrington High School will have a new principal this year.

District officials recently announced the hiring of Christopher Ashley as Barrington High School’s next principal. Ashley replaces Joe Hurley, who retired after more than four decades as a school administrator. 

In an Aug. 11 email to the district, Barrington Superintendent of Schools Michael Messore wrote that Ashley had accepted the job offer, later adding that his first official day at Barrington High School will be Aug. 25.

“In his 15 years in education, Mr. Ashley has taught high school science and worked in various administrative roles,” Messore wrote. “His administrative experience includes serving as an assistant principal at Portsmouth High School, principal at Tiverton High School, and recently as director of teaching, learning, and professional development in Newport Public Schools.”

Messore also shared some of Ashley’s educational background: Ashley holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in geological-biological sciences from Brown University, a Master of Arts in teaching secondary biology from Brown University, and a Master of Education in secondary administration from Endicott College.

“Mr. Ashley is extremely excited about the opportunity to lead an esteemed high school as well as contribute positively to the Barrington Public School community,” Messore wrote. “He is looking forward to the opportunity to be back in a high school working with students, staff and the school community.”

In a followup interview, Messore said Ashley has a wealth of experience in the educational field — he’s been a teacher, an administrator, an assistant principal, and a principal. 

“And his demeanor is just what we need here,” Messore said. “He’s very personable, and student-centered… He has an overall positivity.” 

In addition, Ashley lives in Barrington and knows the district well.

“I’m very confident that he’s going to continue to make Barrington High School a great high school,” Messore said. 

Messore said Ashley has already met with out-going principal Hurley in an effort to aid in the transition. 

Introduction

On Thursday night, Aug. 18, members of the Barrington School Committee had an opportunity to meet Ashley. 

Shortly after the start of the meeting, Messore made the announcement that the district had hired Ashely as the next Barrington High School principal. Ashley, sitting in the front row of the audience, said the hiring process was a rigorous one, but offered a great opportunity for him to meet parents, staff and some of the students at BHS. He said he had attended an informal meet and greet with some of the staff members earlier in the day.

Barrington School Committee Chairwoman Gina Bae said members were looking forward to working with Ashley.

A short time later, just outside the meeting room, Ashley said he was quite excited about his new position. 

“The excitement level is above everything else. There’s definitely a little bit of anxiety. But as I mentioned before, I’m really excited to meet the students, the faculty, the staff, and the parents,” he said. “I was chatting with the faculty today. That’s really one of my first goals — getting to know the community and people.”

Ashley said he has long been aware of Barrington High School’s strong reputation.

“Definitely, the accolades and accomplishments stand out. I could see that coming in. But now that I’m starting to get emersed, I see it’s because of the people who work at Barrington High School,” Ashley said. 

“And it came out a little bit in my initial conversations that, you mention the word pressure, that’s real and we are all about standards and rigor and academic success, but we have to balance that out with social emotional needs.”

Ashley added that his experience as both a parent in the district and now as the new high school principal has been positive.

“As a parent I didn’t know the high school as well, right, because my kids are not quite there yet. They will be. It has been fun, in a way. Having the parent perspective. Everybody has been so wonderful. I feel really privileged to be part of the community,” he said.

Hiring process

More than a dozen people applied for the vacant Barrington High School principal’s position during the second search process. The district conducted two searches — Barrington had identified two finalists during the first search, but both candidates withdrew their names late in the process. 

A search committee worked with a consultant, NESDEC (New England School Development Council), to identify candidates for the job. The search committee included parents of students, educators, members of school PTOs and improvement teams, and was led by Barrington Middle School Principal Andy Anderson.