Haverhill High’s seniors aren’t the only ones getting ready to move on at this month’s graduation. Matt Steinberg, the school’s grade nine assistant principal, is preparing to leave the district after seven years for a role in Leominster, he tells WHAV.
A Lowell native, Steinberg has accepted a job as the principal of Samoset Middle School, he said. He’ll continue in his current role through June, and calls leaving his brown and gold years behind “bittersweet.”
“Haverhill High is my home. I’ve really grown close to a lot of people here in the community and in the city and it’s going to be a hard transition, that’s for sure,” says the educator.
Over the summer, Steinberg, who taught at Methuen High School for 11 years before coming to Haverhill, plans to get a crash course in middle school adventures: From his very own kids.
“My kids are 12 and 10, so they’re the perfect age for this move, because I’m dealing with middle school insanity in my house. My 12-year-old is the quintessential angsty pre-teen, so this is going to be good timing for me because I’m doing that with my parenting outside,” he told WHAV.
Praising the efforts of Haverhill High’s new Principal Glenn Burns, Steinberg hopes to replicate the sense of community he’s seen at HHS in his new role at Samoset Middle School.
“What I love most about this place is and something I hope doesn’t get forgotten is that word “Hillie Nation”—that hashtag, that definition, that mantra—it means ‘community.’ In the last seven years, the kids that have come through these halls, the people that have worked here, there really is that sense of community and I’m really going to miss that the most,” he tells WHAV.
The school is currently seeking his replacement, Steinberg said.