Jim Corkum, an assistant principal at Concord High School for the last ten years, will serve as the principal of Concord High School next year.
Corkum has been an assistant principal at Concord High since 2016 and he previously served as an assistant principal at Laconia Middle School, where he jointly served as the athletic director. He has deep roots in Concord, however, starting as a district call-in substitute and tutor before becoming a Rundlett social studies teacher in 2009.
“Concord is my home,” he said. “So I’m very excited for this opportunity.”
The school interviewed multiple candidates for the principal position but Corkum, the only known finalist from within the district, rose as the nominee. He would formally succeed Tim Herbert, who stepped into the superintendent position this year. The high school principal salary would be about $174,000.
Speaking with the school board Monday night, Corkum said he’d look to revamp the advisory system and bolster ongoing restorative justice practices, aiming to build stronger relationships amongst students and between students and staff.
“We’re really digging in as the administrative team,” he said. “What is our mechanism to make sure that we have community and that we have students that feel like they matter?”
Kris Gallo is a longtime Christa McAuliffe School Principal who has been filling in as CHS principal this year after Herbert made the move to central office.
She told the Monitor in March that she was stepping back from principal work but wasn’t “done” with educating kids in Concord.
Now it’s clear what she meant: Gallo will step up as the assistant superintendent of curriculum, instruction and assessment at central office. Kimberly Yarlott, who has held that role for the last four years, has said she will retire.
Gallo got her start as a high school math teacher in Amherst. In recent years at Christa, she oversaw nationally recognized student learning improvements. In 2024, the school received a federal award for its use of education funding to improve student academic performance, specifically in language arts proficiency. Her new salary will be $150,000.
There will be new faces around central office, too.
Kaily Roukey will head up the district’s student services coordination, overseeing special education and family support systems. She comes to Concord from Kearsarge, where she held a similar position for the last four years. Roukey formally succeeds Assistant Superintendent John Fabrizio, who left a year ago.
The high school will get a new director of special education, as well. Andra Hall is currently the assistant superintendent for student services in Pembroke, where she has been for just a year, but previously was a student services coordinator at John Stark. Roukey and Hall will both receive a salary of roughly $140,000.
