New assistant superintendent selected in Shrewsbury

Shrewsbury - Dr. James Cummings, current principal of Walsh Middle School in Framingham, will step in as Shrewsbury's assistant superintendent beginning Wednesday July 1.

Cummings will fill the position left vacant by current Assistant Superintendent Dr. Joseph Sawyer, who will take over as superintendent of the district when Dr. Anthony Bent retires at the end of this school year.

Cummings, who was one of 40 people who applied for the position, was unanimously selected by the Shrewsbury School Committee to serve in the position following a joint recommendation from Bent and Sawyer.

"It's very clear he has a high dose of emotional intelligence, humor and great influence [on his current School Community]," School Committee Chair Erin Canzano said. "He is an extremely qualified person to become our new assistant superintendent."

Cummings comes to Shrewsbury with close to 20 years of experience in diff erent areas of education. He began his career in Southborough working as a teacher at the New England Center for Autism in 1992.

He then worked as a Special Education teacher in Arizona before returning to Massachusetts, where he took a position at the Boston College Campus School. Later, worked at Lincoln Elementary School before moving on to Framingham, where he worked in the district as a teacher, vice principal and principal.

He earned a bachelor's degree in history from St. Anslem College, a master's degree in education from Simmons College and a doctorate in educational administration from Boston College.

School Committee members said they were thrilled to begin working with Cummings this upcoming school year.

"I'm very pleased and very, very excited to work with both Dr. Cummings and Dr. Sawyer," committee member Mark Murray said. "We've got a great, great team together and this transition will be seamless."