After A More Than 30-Year Career, Moving to the Next Phase

Jeanne McCarroll may not be part of the Class of 2011, but she will be moving to a new chapter in her life as much as the graduates whom she first met as kindergartners.

McCarroll, who is scheduled to address the senior class at its graduation tonight, is retiring as principal of after 13 years. It will culminate a career in education of more than 30 years.

“I’m going to go home and sleep for two weeks,” McCarroll said. “It’s really been a frantic time, a great time.”

During her time at Broad Brook Elementary School, McCarroll, 62, has headed the largest of East Windsor’s public schools. She greets all of the students when they come to school and knows their names, officials said.

McCarroll said she was attracted to Broad Brook because of the high value officials put on early education with the Birth to School program. During her tenure, the school has gone from a K-2 school to K-4 school. The school also houses the district's early education program.

While she says kids are always kids, McCarroll has seen changes such as elementary school students with their own mobile phones. The students now also use iPods as tools to learn spelling, vocabulary and even math, she said.

McCarroll, who moved from West Springfield to Broad Brook 10 years ago,  is an active member of the community through her involvement in the PTO, East Windsor Community Day, and the Community Conversation Committee.

McCarroll received her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Westfield State College; certification as a teacher of young children with special needs and her master’s degree in Educational Administration.  Before coming to East Windsor, she was an educator in West Springfield for 20 years.

McCarroll is on the board of directors for the Family Resource Center at Broad Brook School.  The program offers daycare, playgroups, parenting classes.   The Open Choice program, in which children from Hartford attend school in a suburban setting, has been very successful, because McCarroll makes sure these children start out in kindergarten or first grade, officials said.

“Over the years, she has always said each child should be entitled to an early education,” Carol A. Fox, acting superintendent, said. 

Fox said she has always enjoyed visiting Broad Brook because McCarroll could be seen reading to the students. She’d dress up as characters, wear funny hats etc., Fox said.

“The students know when they are truly cared about,” Fox said.

McCarroll also became the historian of the school district during the past few years, a  role she played in West Springfield and swore she wouldn’t repeat when she started in East Windsor.

“We have a fairly young administration as far as experience,” Fox said. “We do call her the historian. She can remember facts that we can’t because we weren’t here.”

The board of education on June 16 hired Broad Brook Assistant Principal Laura Foxx to succeed McCarroll.

Board of Education Chairman John Pica-Sneeden said McCarroll deserves and has earned the next phase of her life.  Not only does Broad Brook have the largest student population but also the most transient, he said.

“She has tirelessly put in all of  the work,” Pica-Sneeden said.

When he first became board chairman, Pica-Sneeden said he reached out to McCarroll to find out about the dynamics of  Broad Brook School. She invited him to the school and they met for two hours, he said.

“That really set the tone for Jeanne and I in our relationship,” Pica-Sneeden said.

McCarroll said she has two grandchildren, Colin and Lauren, in Cromwell she wants to spend more time with, as well as her husband Jeff and their two sons, Timothy and Jeffrey. There are a lot of things she hasn’t had enough time to get to as she would have liked the past few years.

“I have tons and tons of weeds calling my name in my garden,” McCarroll said.