Patrick Tutwiler, the new state secretary of education, is a professional educator with decades of experience in the public schools of Massachusetts.
Appointed to the position by Governor Maura Healey, Tutwiler has more than 20 years of experience in public education, including as a high school history teacher, and as a principal and superintendent.
He was superintendent of the Lynn Public Schools for four years, and previously had served as deputy superintendent.
Immediately prior to his appointment as education secretary, Tutwiler was a senior program officer for the Boston-based Barr Foundation for four months.
Healey, whose appointment of Tutwiler was among her first actions as governor-elect, described him as having the experience, empathy and vision to make sure every Massachusetts resident receives a high-quality education at every stage of their life.
As secretary, Tutwiler will oversee public education in prekindergarten through higher education.
"From his time working as a high school history teacher to leading a large, diverse, urban school district, he has earned his reputation as a consensus builder who puts diversity, equity and inclusion at the center of everything he does, and delivers results," Healey said, in a news release.
Following the Dec. 16 announcement, MTA President Max Page and Vice President Deb McCarthy said they were pleased with the appointment and cited his deep and varied background in public education.
"We fully expect Dr. Patrick Tutwiler to bring a new vision to the office, one fully rooted in the public education community," the MTA leaders said in a statement. "Following the historic passage of the Fair Share Amendment, our members and our broad coalition have the funding to win the transformative investments in public higher education laid out by the Higher Ed For All campaign and to build on the Student Opportunity Act’s reinvestment in preK-12 public education. We also have an opportunity to shift away from the Baker administration’s punitive use of high-stakes standardized testing and to instead focus on educating the whole child."
Tutwiler has a bachelor’s degree in history from The College of the Holy Cross, a master’s degree in education from Harvard University Graduate School of Education and a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from the Lynch School of Education at Boston College.
According to his LinkedIn profile, his public education experience includes serving as headmaster of Brighton High School, as principal of Wayland High School, and as dean of students at Westford Academy, which is part of the Westford Public Schools. He also worked for nearly five years as a teacher and assistant headmaster for the Boston Public Schools.
In Lynn, as superintendent, he led a collaborative effort to increase graduation rates, recruit and retain a racially diverse faculty and staff, and establish an early college program, according to the governor’s office.
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