HAVERHILL — The principal of Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School is on paid leave from her job, and school officials refuse to say why.
Principal Deborah DePaolo is taking a "professional'' leave from her duties, Whittier Superintendent William DeRosa said. He refused to say how long the leave is for or whether she is receiving any of her $120,869 annual salary during the leave. DeRosa said DePaolo will be on leave for an unspecified period.
DePaolo is the third-highest ranking administrator at Whittier, behind DeRosa and the school's business manager.
One Whittier School Committee member — Raymond Morley, who represents Ipswich on the 14-member board — told The Eagle-Tribune on Monday that he understood DePaolo had quit. He said he did not know any more about the situation.
But last week, DeRosa said DePaolo still has her job.
"We're not looking for a new principal," DeRosa said. "We have a principal."
The superintendent also said DePaolo taking leave was not a "sudden" situation.
Reached at her home in Easton, DePaolo said, "I'm not at liberty to talk with you about this."
Dan Nihan, Groveland's representative on the Whittier School Committee, said he had not heard anything about a change in DePaolo's status but said, "I did notice she was not present at our last meeting." The last Whittier School Committee meeting was Dec. 9. It is common for the superintendent and the principal to give reports at those meetings.
Committee member Russell Osborn of Newbury said DePaolo's status is none of the public's business.
"I don't know, and if I did know, I probably wouldn't tell you," he said. "The newspapers have more important things to write about."
Whatever happened to DePaolo is a private matter, he said.
Whittier serves about 1,200 students from Haverhill, Amesbury, Salisbury, Newburyport and several other area communities.
DePaolo was one of three finalists for superintendent of Keefe Vocational Technical High School in Framingham in April 2008. She came close to getting that job, according to the MetroWest Daily News. The initial vote by the Keefe School Committee was an 8-8 tie, with members divided between DePaolo and James Lynch, the principal at Keefe. On the second ballot, one of DePaolo's backers switched his support to Lynch, and he was hired on a 9-7 vote.
DePaolo's experience includes serving as special education administrator in Randolph and principal, assistant superintendent and interim superintendent of Blue Hills Vocational Technical High School in Canton. She was hired as Whittier principal about four years ago by then-Whittier Superintendent Karen Sarkisian.
Sarkisian retired in June 2008, and DeRosa, the assistant superintendent in charge of students services, was promoted to the top job.
DePaolo is originally from Illinois. She serves on the Vocational-Technical Administrators Committee of the Massachusetts Secondary School Administrators Association, according to that organization's Web site.
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