At the start of January, the entire school was excited and saddened to hear that our wonderful principal would be leaving. As of March 1st, 2021, Dr. Fagan will be the new principal of Greystone Elementary School. The Norse Code reached out to him to learn more about his transition to Greystone, advice for the current students, and more.

How did you know you were interested in working at Greystone?

I was intrigued from the time the School Board approved the building in its 2019 budget. Leading an elementary school is something that has been in the back of my mind for a long time now, and this is a great opportunity.

What are you most looking forward to at Greystone?

It’s not often that we build schools anymore, so the idea of building a brand new school and selecting a staff and then bringing together new families is very exciting. Schools are all about culture, and I am most looking forward to developing a culture that best serves our young students. My goal is for them to love their school, and a lot goes into that.

What are you going to miss most about EHS?

The people and the relationships. Over the course of my time here, I’ve developed strong relationships with students, staff, and families, and I’m grateful for all of the support I’ve received. I will miss them, but I’m not too far away, and I’ll continue to have close ties to East, as Greystone will feed into both Pierce and Fugett.

What is something you’d like to tell your current students?

I would tell them that as turbulent as things are in the world right now, I have tremendous faith in our collective future because of them. The thoughtfulness, charity, and kindness that I’ve seen from our students fills me with optimism. I’d encourage them to continue to grow and change the world for the better. Their voices matter, their actions matter, and their legacy will matter.

What is something you’ve done at East in your time here that you are most proud of?

I think that I am most proud of our school culture. This is a really strong, caring staff and faculty. We’ve been through our ups and downs and persevered, then thrived together.

How will the transition of administration from you to Dr. Brown go?/What will the next few months at East look like?

Dr. Brown and I have been meeting routinely on transition items. We’ll focus this month on not just getting more students back into school but on ensuring our spring events calendar. Dr. Brown will take over officially on March 1. He’ll be ready, and he’ll do a great job!

What hopes do you have for EHS in the future?

I know that we may not have the “prettiest” looking school, but this place is special because of the students, families, faculty, and staff. I want to see East continue to flourish and serve the needs of the students. There is a lot of pride here and rightly so!

What advice do you have for the EHS student body moving forward?

That if you try your best to do the right thing in the right way, most of the time, you’ll get the right outcome and, in doing so, improve yourself and everyone around you. That can sometimes be a very daunting task, but it’s important.

Thank you to Dr. Fagan for all the help and support he has given to East! Dr. Fagan will be greatly missed, but we wish him the best of luck at Greystone.