New Principal Named At Blackstone Elementary

Curtis Guild Elementary School Principal Cynthia Paris Jeffries will take the helm at starting July 1, BPS Chief Accountability Officer Frank Barnes announced on Tuesday.

Jeffries is "a respected BPS school leader," Barnes wrote in a letter sent home to Blackstone parents. "She has demonstrated commitment to working with staff, parents and partners to continue the improved instruction and positive progress done to date."

Jeffries, who will be replaced at Curtis Guild by another BPS principal - Anthony Valdez of the Dante Alighieri Elementary School - has 15 years of experience as a kindergarten teacher, bilingual speech-language pathologist, Language Assessment Team facilitator and principal, Barnes wrote. She was selected as a finalist by a screening committee comprised of parents, teachers and community partners.

"We hope you will join us in giving Principal Jeffries a warm welcome to the Blackstone community," Barnes wrote. "We know that she will continue to make the Blackstone a place where every student succeeds."

Jeffries will be the third principal to lead the South End school in the last year. Antonio Barbosa, a veteran educator who came out of retirement to lead the Blackstone following in December, will remain interim principal until the end of the school year.

As a designated turnaround school, Blackstone has three years and $2.5 million in federal money to improve test scores and performance among its 600 students.