Superintendent Sherry Sousa has told the Mountain Views Supervisory Union (MVSU) Board that she intends to retire on June 30, 2027, at the conclusion of the 2026-27 school year.
Sousa has spent the past 33 years working within the MVSU, the former Windsor Central Supervisory Union (WCSU), and the Woodstock Union Middle School/High School (WUMS/HS) systems. She has been at the helm of the MVSU school district since July of 2020, providing comprehensive oversight of academic programs, budgets, educational standards, staff development, and more for the school district that serves the communities of Barnard, Bridgewater, Killington, Plymouth, Pomfret, Reading, and Woodstock, as well as numerous sending towns in the region.
The outgoing superintendent and MVSU School Board chair Keri Bristow spoke with the Standard on Monday about Sousa’s planned departure and the recruitment process that is taking shape to choose her successor.
“I didn’t plan on being a lifer when I ended up in Vermont, [relocating here from Massachusetts] after having my first child. But I jokingly say that I signed on for a life sentence, so there you go,” offered Sousa, who joined the staff at WUMS/HS in 1993 as an integration facilitator, developing and implementing individualized programs for students with emotional, learning, and attention disabilities. She served in that capacity for 10 years and then went on to become the director of learning opportunities at WUMS/HS before taking on the roles of assistant director and then director of instructional support services at the former WCSU beginning in 2012.
Sousa then stepped up to become the WCSU and later MVSU superintendent six years ago at the height of the challenging COVID pandemic.
“It has been an amazing district to be a part of for all these years,” Sousa commented. “I joke that I haven’t had a day off in 12 years, which isn’t true, of course, but this is a job that takes a lot of energy, so it’ll be nice to have some days off. I wanted to give the board a significant runway [for recruiting], so I’ve decided to step down when my contract runs out at the end of June next year.”
For more on this, please see our June 11 edition of the Vermont Standard.
