ATHOL — At their most recent meeting, members of the Athol Royalston Regional School Committee unanimously approved the hiring of a new business manager to succeed Lynn Bassett, who is retiring after keeping her eye on the district budget for the past six years.
The committee chose Florida native Leah Jack to fill the position. She received her bachelor’s degree in 2011 from Florida State University, where she studied international affairs and applied economics.
“I interned with J.P. Morgan when I was in college,” she said. “That converted into a full-time opportunity, and I moved to Boston with J.P. Morgan for that opportunity.”
She told the Athol Daily News that she has had experience working in an educational setting.
“I have done this sort of work with a school district before,” Jack explained. “Prior to going to grad school, I actually worked with the Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership. I started off as a program manager, but as the organization started to grow and we started to think about functions for the nonprofit, I got into the business side of the nonprofit.
“So, I did the nonprofit business side, but I also supported the schools with some budgeting and procurement work.”
The Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership works with nine Springfield middle schools to improve student achievement in the city’s most underperforming schools.
“On the nonprofit side, I’ve basically done everything that a business office would do,” Jack said, “such as procurement, payroll, developing financial systems, managing those financial systems. I’m really excited to apply what I’ve learned and take more of what I’ve learned in my grad program, as well, and use that to help support the students of Athol and Royalston.”
She is working on her master’s degree via the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.
“I went to grad school with the intention of coming back to work in a public school district, doing something in the business office,” Jack explained. “I wasn’t sure what I’d be doing, but I was hoping to land as school business manager. So, I was very happy to have the opportunity come up with Athol Royalston.
“So, I’m still wrapping up my program here. It’s nice that I’m able to do it virtually. It’s not ideal. It’s not what we had anticipated, but I’m still able to fully engage as a student while I was recruiting for roles here in Massachusetts. So, it worked out.”
Asked why she decided to use her business acumen in public education rather than looking for an office on Wall Street, Jack said, “Right out of undergrad, I was at J.P. Morgan for about five years. I learned a lot about myself as a professional and I think 2016, the election of 2016, made me decide to take a step back and decide to do something more impactful with my career.
“My husband had started a grad program at UMass/Amherst and I took the opportunity to move out here with him and try to transition into education. I wasn’t sure what I would end up doing.”
Jack said she knew in her heart that she didn’t want to teach but held out hope she could find something related to education.
“That actually how I found the Empowerment Zone Partnership,” she explained. “So, I spent that time doing work in education, really enjoyed what I was doing, and knew that there was more I could learn about organizational management, in particular.”
That, she said, is why she decided to earn an MBA rather than a master’s in education.
“So, I’m looking forward to applying what I’ve learned; applying some of the interesting things in terms of strategy and financial management and organizational management in an educational setting. I do have some experience in that because of the work I did with SEZP.”
Jack and her husband live in Greenfield, which she says is convenient since she’ll be working in Athol while he works toward his PhD in microbiology at UMass.
“We definitely hoping to stay in Franklin County,” she concluded. “We’re definitely staying in western Mass for the long term.”
Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com