Catherine Masterson, a Merrimack Valley High School graduate and longtime teacher and administrator in the district, will serve as its next superintendent.

“I’m incredibly proud to lead in this community. It’s a special place to me,” Masterson said in an interview Wednesday, the day after the SAU board that represents the Merrimack Valley and Andover schools unanimously approved her appointment.

Masterson will succeed in July 2026 current superintendent Randy Wormald, who announced his retirement earlier this month. She will maintain her position as assistant superintendent of the school administrative unit, which she’s held since 2023, through next school year.

Masterson grew up in Webster and has spent nearly her entire career working in Merrimack Valley schools, first as a middle school social studies teacher, then as an administrator for the past 14 years. She previously served as principal of Loudon Elementary and as the assistant principal of the middle school, prior to becoming assistant superintendent.

“Catherine has essentially completed the longest job interview in history; serving as a student, substitute teacher, paraprofessional, teacher, assistant principal, principal, and assistant superintendent,” Wormald wrote in a statement. “In my many years in education, she stands out as one of the very best educators I’ve had the privilege to work with.”

After a turbulent year that included an inadvertent $2 million over-expenditure and voters’ failure to approve the school board’s proposed budget for next year, Marrimack Valley in the midst of a major leadership transition. In addition to the upcoming superintendent and assistant superintendent changes, the high school’s principal, Sam York, will become business administrator, and the SAU’s facilities director, Fred Reagan, is set to retire at the end of next school year.

Amid those changes, school officials lauded Masterson as a stabilizing force capable of shepherding the SAU into its next phase.

The board moved hastily – declining to conduct an external search – after Wormald announced on May 7 that he would retire at the end of next year.

While the lack of an open application process led to some pushback, Merrimack Valley school board member Tom Laliberte said Masterson received widespread support from community members over the last two weeks. Laliberte said that while he generally supports open search processes, he felt that appointing Masterson now, given the other turnover in the district, made sense.

“She has got all the skills and talents to be a successful leader in the Merrimack Valley School District for quite a long time and her stability in her past and what I perceive to be the future, I think will be good for the district,” said Laliberte, who has had a professional relationship with Masterson for some two decades.

Board chair Melissa Muzzy did not respond to a request for comment. Vice-chair Katie Caron said the board would share additional information “in the coming days” on why it selected Masterson.

In an interview, Masterson reflected both on how far Merrimack Valley has come since her time as a student and on the goals she has going forward.

“When I was a student here, I think at times our reputation was not as positive, especially by comparison to other school districts around us,” she said. “I can remember that as a student and feeling as though other neighboring districts or communities sort of looked down on us.

“That stigma doesn't exist anymore,” she said. “We’re on equal footing with all of the communities around us.”

She specifically cited the fact that staff choose to stay in the district even though surrounding districts offer higher salaries.

Masterson’s focus as superintendent will revolve around student success, financial wellbeing, and community support and engagement, she said.

She acknowledged Merrimack Valley has experienced a year of challenges and said she will endeavor to strengthen relationships with those in the community who have come to distrust the district.

“The concern around trust is big,” she said. “We’ve heard that loud and clear and we look forward to the opportunity to show through our actions that we can be trusted. I think transparency and communication are critical in order for that to happen.”

But she said she also believes a “tremendous amount of support within Andover and within Merrimack Valley” already exists. 

“That’s not to say that there aren’t people who have opposing viewpoints and express them, but I’m really optimistic about my ability to build positive, collaborative relationships with everyone,” she said.

The leadership turnover in Merrimack Valley and Andover is part of a broader trend across the region. Concord, Hopkinton, Pembroke, Deerfield, and Pittsfield all have superintendents who have resigned or retired this year or will next year. The position, always challenging, has become increasingly politicized.

Masterson said that while she recognizes the obstacles she may soon face, they don’t outweigh her desire to lead the community she has belonged to since childhood.

“My focus is the opportunity to continue to lead us forward on that path, and while I know there’s challenges, they aren’t enough to dissuade me from wanting to tackle that goal of mine,” she said. “For me, it’s really about the community that I get to continue to be a part of.”

 

Jeremy Margolis can be contacted at jmargolis@cmonitor.com.