Worcester Business Journal

8 Worcester Business Journal | April 29, 2024 | wbjournal.com P O W E R 1 0 0 E D U C A T I O N Rachel Monarrez Superintendent Worcester Public Schools Employees: 4,900 Residence: Worcester Colleges: University of California, Irvine; Claremont Graduate University Aer a nationwide search, the Worcester School Committee hired Monarrez in 2022 to head the school district, replacing Maureen Binienda, whose contract was not renewed. Now, Monarrez was named in December as one of 25 U.S. Superin- tendents to Watch by the National School Public Relations Association. e former superintendent in San Bernardino, California, now brings a vision for creating a more inclusive school district. Monzarrez spent years in the classroom, teaching students in Southern California whose first language wasn't English. e experience was formative. "Given my experience, I bring a different perspective to what public education can be in Central Massachusetts," she said. e second-largest Bay State school district, with 24,500 students and a budget of $463 million, WPS faces the same challenges most large districts face: economic inequality, language barriers, aging structures. In December, Monarrez unveiled a five-year WPS Strategic Plan to address some of those issues. e plan prioritizes programs and resources to ensure students have the skills necessary for college or career. It sets goals for making education more equitable, setting benchmarks for achievement for the historically underserved. On the hiring front, she set goals to increase faculty and staff from underrepresented backgrounds. Using social media presence and district communications, Monarrez focuses on increased community engagement, ensuring families have full access to school resources and feel welcomed in their school communities across Worcester zip codes. She has won the support of School Committee members, who voted in August to extend her contract to June 30, 2027. - E.M. Dr. Michael Collins Chancellor of UMass Chan Medical School, in Worcester Senior vice president for health sciences at the University of Massachusetts Employees: 6,729 Residence: Worcester Colleges: College of the Holy Cross; Tufts University School of Medicine e longtime chancellor of the only public medical school in Massachusetts, Col- lins acutely sees the opportunity to spread the school's wings outside of Worcester for regional, national, and global impact. Under his leadership, the UMass Chan footprint has grown, making space for cutting-edge research, and new partnerships are bringing students to valuable training sites in other parts of the state. Strategic planning is no small task for an organization of its size. UMass Chan has a $1-billion annual budget and receives about $300 million in annual research funding. e UMass Donahue Institute estimates the medical school's economic impact to be $2.2 billion. Collins has led the charge to regionalize UMass Chan. In 2015, the school teamed with Baystate Health in Springfield to create its first regional campus. is year, the first cohort of students will begin training at UMass Chan-Lahey, a partnership with Lahey Hospital and Medical Center in Burlington announced in 2023. In Worcester, new construction on the Lake Avenue campus continues, with the upcoming opening of a nine-story, $350-million, 350,000-square-foot biomedical research building dedicated to education and scientific discovery. With the potential for research to impact global health, it's fitting that UMass Chan will host World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as the key- note speaker at the ribbon-cutting event in June. Collins, the highest-paid Mass. state employee with $1.3 million in total earnings in 2022, said he learned a lesson as a child, which drives his leadership style. "My mother used to say, 'First, you have to want to,' and it is a notion that I have held closely and reflected on many times over the years. To me, that saying is a reminder to be intentional," Collins said. - E.M. Andrea Bazarian Principal Nativity School of Worcester Employees: 24 Residence: Worcester Colleges: Saint Michael's College, Clark University, Boston College For 20 years, Nativity School of Worcester has been providing a Jesuit mid- dle-school education free to underserved boys of all faiths. Now, Bazarian is about to open the school to the other half of the population. In July, Bazarian will welcome girls into the program for the first time when Nativi- ty opens the Julie Power Girls Division, becoming the first tuition-free girls' school in Central Massachusetts. At a time when private schools across Central Massachusetts and the nation are struggling to find new students, Nativity's innovative expansion provides a roadmap toward continued relevance for the next generation. e first cohort of girls at Nativity School will include 30 students in the fih and sixth grades. e expansion to include girls among the students comes aer a $20-million fundraising campaign, including a $3 million donation from e J.D. Power family and Kenrose Kitchen Table Foundation. e new division is named in honor of Julie Power, the wife of J.D. "Dave" Power III, a Worcester native and founder of the nation- al consumer information provider J.D. Power. Bazarian began her career at Nativity, starting as a teaching fellow in 2013. In 2015, she worked at Learning First Charter Public School (formerly Seven Hills Charter) before returning to Nativity in 2016. A key leader, she served as a teacher and assistant principal at Nativity before being named principal in 2022. Nativity eighth-graders now graduate with an average of an 11th-grade level in reading and English language, and a 12th-grade level in math, according to the school's 2023 annual report. In the fall of 2022, the school served 60 boys in grades 5 through 8. e student body is 48% Black, 36% Hispanic or Latino, and 16% other/ multi-race. - N.C. PHOTO | COURTESY OF WORCESTER PUBLIC SCHOOLS

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