WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Benjamin Torres said he never intended to be a school administrator.

 

He was happy pursuing his passion as a technology teacher at Holyoke Community Charter School.

 

But the road that led to his new post as principal of Williamstown Elementary School started when he realized how many more lives he could impact when not tethered to a single classroom.

 

"Little by little, my principal started to see how I was building relationships with students, how I was connecting with the kiddos, helping to reverse some behaviors," Torres said recently. "Some students who were disengaged, not wanting to come to school, I started helping them get more engaged.

 

"And my principal approached me and said, 'Do you want to be a dean of students?' I said, 'I don't know what that is.' And she said, you're going to be working with kiddos all day, and it's going to be positive interactions and discipline interactions as well — dealing with some challenges as well. I decided to give it a shot."

 

He served the charter school in that capacity for three years, gradually expanding his reach from one-on-one interactions with students to conversations with their teachers about how to reach those "kiddos," he said.

 

That led to Torres taking the job of "academic quality controller" for HCCS's middle school, where he worked for seven or eight years. 

 

"We did a lot of amazing work," Torres said. "I started bringing some of my passion with connecting with kiddos into the learning and dealing with curriculum planning and what not.

 

"Immediately, we started to see the middle school doing extremely well academically and behaviorally, as well. That led to my principal approaching me and saying, 'We've got to replicate that in the lower level. We need K to 4 to have some of this amazing work you've been doing in the middle school.' I was never interested in the younger grade levels. It was never a passion of mine up to that point. But then when I was tasked to be the deputy director of academics, I had to oversee the entire K to 8. While I was observing and watching over those grade levels, it was very evident to me that I really enjoyed the little ones."

 

Eventually, Torres had another conversation with his principal, who told him that she would be retiring soon and he should work on his licensure.

 

He did so, but after 19 years at the same school, "I wanted to explore what was out there and see what other schools looked like."

 

Last spring, that curiosity led him to Williamstown, where, on Sept. 2, he will greet the kiddos who call the Church Street campus their home away from home.

 

This month, Torres sat down with iBerkshires.com to talk about the road that led him to North Berkshire and some of the challenges that come with the job.

 

Question: So you started in July?

 

Torres: July 1.

 

Q: So about six weeks in, how's it going so far?

 

Torres: I'm falling in love with Williamstown as a community. I've never been up here before. And all of this happened, kind of unexpectedly. I was working on my principal licensure, and out of the blue, I decided to update my resume.

 

I worked at Holyoke Community Charter School for 19 years, serving in multiple roles. Because I was working on my licensure, I decided to update my resume and get things out and about. And I started looking at some principal positions that were available in the area. I just came across this district, and I did the interview. I think I did OK during the interview.

 

Then I was invited to join, and this last six weeks, all I've been doing is meeting with teachers, community members, partnerships we have with Williams College. And it's been nothing but amazing. I definitely think this is such a beautiful school and an amazing community.

 

Q: What attracted you to Williamstown Elementary?

 

Torres: I came to visit here as part of the interview process, and my first interview ... I met with teachers, district staff and parents were part of that interview committee. The type of questions they were asking were really powerful in my opinion. It really talked to me a lot about what the district values are.

 

There were a lot of questions about equity, there were a lot of questions about supporting diverse learning. After I decided all the questions and I was heading back home, I decided to look more deeply into the information from the district. And it was evident to me by looking at their mission and vision statement, their big desire for diversity and equity. And I said to myself, 'This is the type of school that I would like to spend the rest of my years in.'

 

I was invited to do a second round interview, and in the second round interview, I was asked to come directly to the school and met with sixth-grade students. I met with teachers. I had a lunch with a group of teachers and paraprofessionals. And, as I was meeting with them and discussing with them a little about my experience, my background and what I'd done in Holyoke, it became very evident the school was looking for that type of leadership here.

 

So I was officially offered the position, and once I started, I sent out an email to all the teachers saying, 'Hey, I'm here. I want to learn. I don't want to wait until the start of the school year. So if your schedule allows it, stop by. I would like to hear you, understand what the values of the school are, what are the challenges, what are the ideal things that you will want to see in your next principal.' And for about five weeks, that's what I've been doing: gathering a lot of information.

 

From that point on, I started meeting with different community leaders. I've been meeting with parents and a ton of meetings with the district personnel in terms of what we envision for the school. I'm very excited about the things that they want to see and the things that I'm passionate about coming together in this very unique moment of my career.

 

Q: You said you were from Holyoke. Did you grow up in Holyoke?

 

Torres: I actually was born and raised in Puerto Rico. Just to give you a little of my background and what led me to be an educator. I grew up in poverty, extreme poverty. ... In my childhood, I was never 'a good student.' 

 

Q: It's hard in that situation to be a good student.

 

Torres: Yeah. I was the trouble-maker, the disengaged kid. And then, I met amazing teachers in the middle school and high school and, eventually, in college as well, who were able to see beyond my current reality. They were able to see that there's such a powerful potential within you and the passion that you bring to what you do. You just don't believe in yourself, you just don't see it yet.

 

I remember in my early years, especially middle school where I was having all these difficult emotions and going back and forth in terms of what I wanted to do, my middle school teacher said to me, 'If you ever want to overcome some of these challenges, let me know. I'm here for you.' That interaction, at first, it was kind of difficult to see what she was talking about because my reality was so different from what she was talking about that, at first, I wanted to be very dismissive and very standoffish. ... But then, eventually, when I decided to put my guard down, she taught me not just social studies — she was my social studies teacher — but she taught me how to be a good student, how to be a responsible student, how to study, how to prep for my work, how to do my assignments. She started giving me all those tools.

 

When I started to experience good grades in middle school, that was never part of what I experienced at the elementary level, I, for the first time in my life, thought that maybe I can do this. So I started being a little bit more responsible with my school, with my academics. And, eventually, I moved on to high school, where I met another number of great teachers. But one particular teacher noticed that there were some significant gaps in my map and my Spanish subject. And she ended up putting in countless hours in tutoring me, supporting me, helping me — something that she did on her own. She wasn't being compensated by the school, nor by my family.

 

And I started to, not only continue to experience more academic growth, but I was accepted in the University of Puerto Rico, and I happened to have one of the top scores that year, when looking at the SAT score and the GPA for high school. So I received a ton of scholarships to enter my program. I did a bachelor's in computer science and mathematics. And on Saturdays, I did my teaching licensure work.

 

Eventually, things just didn't work out in Puerto Rico in terms of the economic opportunity, so I said, ‘I've finally gotten to this point in my life, let me move to the U.S.' I moved to Massachusetts, to Springfield, and I started throwing a ton of resumes around. My English, back then, was not the greatest. This was in 2006. I, obviously, had very limited English, some different challenges in terms of the language. But, eventually, being surrounded by students, surrounded by educators, everyone ended up helping me a great deal to maneuver the language barrier. Then, once I started working in the charter school, it just snowballed into where I am today, which is kind of amazing.

 

Q: Two questions come to mind. One, you mentioned 'snowballs,' so why Massachusetts after growing up in Puerto Rico. But, more seriously, why Springfield? Did you have family in the area?

 

Torres: No, not at all.

 

Q: You just threw a dart at a map?

 

Torres: No. Because, in high school and college, I was top of my class, education became extremely important to me. So what I did was research what state takes education more seriously and has the highest standards. And Massachusetts just kept popping up.

 

Then, landing in Springfield was all in an accident. That definitely was random. There was no reason. I had no family members there. I remember when I landed in the airport, I had my two suitcases, and I looked around, and I was like, 'Alright, what am I going to do now?' I don't know where I'm going to sleep tonight. At that point, my grandma called me and said, 'Hey, I have a friend of mine who used to go to my church. He lives in Springfield. Head that way, and they're going to house you for the first few days.' They had me over to his place for about a month or so, and then at that point, I got the job. ... From that point, I spent 19 years of my career [at HCCS].

 

Q: You mentioned that it was a charter school, which was a little different.

 

Torres: Very [laughing].

 

Q: So what's that been like and how has the transition to being a leader in what we'd call a 'traditional public school' setting with the union, not to be too blunt? How do you see that transition playing out?

 

Torres: A couple of things. When I was in the charter school, even though we didn't have a teacher union, we were very intentional about decisions we were making and the things were were doing because, obviously, we didn't want to take advantage of the fact that there was no union or contracts. We worked very hard to keep our teachers happy, excited and wanting to return back to our buildings. So their voices were always very important, and it guided a lot of our work.

 

Coming here, that's one of the things that I discussed with the district. Having a union, it's going to be unique to me. So one of the things I did right away was I studied both the teacher and paraprofessional contracts, because I wanted to make sure decisions I was making are within the parameters of the contract. Then I met with the two union reps for WES. I had a very candid conversation with them. I said, 'I've never worked with a union before, so I'm going to need your support. I'm going to need your guidance. I'm going to be consulting with you to see the dos and don'ts.' And they extended a very supportive approach to say, 'We've got you.'

 

In terms of leadership, I've been doing this for a bit. So rounding up support, really listening to the voices, creating a work environment where we value the contribution of each other, that part I'm very comfortable with because I've done it for some time. But, now, consulting with a district office as well as a teacher union, that is going to be the learning curve for me. From what I understand, the teachers union here has a really good relationship with the school district and the school as a whole. So I don't foresee any major challenges in the coming year.

 

Q: The other thing that, from the outside looking in, would appear to be a challenge is you're coming from a very different school community.

 

Torres: Yes.

 

Q: If you look at the demographics ... I don't have to tell you, the percentage of students who identify as white, the percentage of students who are economically disadvantaged at the Holyoke school versus here [According to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Holyoke Community Charter School has a student population that is 3 percent white and 81 percent low income; WES' student population is 76 percent white and 22 percent low income.]

 

Torres: A big difference, for sure. I can't hide the truth there. I will say, in my experience with Holyoke, regardless of what people might think about urban settings and school systems, I always believed that parents want what's best for their students. Sometimes what parents can do might be a little bit different, and how they might support may be a little different in Holyoke than, potentially, Williamstown. But, in my opinion, if you work with the families and you listen to how they can contribute and how they can support the work we're doing, you just accommodate those styles, the level of involvement, the level of knowledge and background information they might bring to the table. And then you work from that point on.

 

In my opinion, yes, it is very evident when I've been meeting with families here, families in Holyoke, there's definitely a big disparity between both groups of families. But what I do get is the same is both sets of families want what's best for their kids. It's just me understanding here what kinds of systems and supports exist, versus the one that existed in Holyoke. In Holyoke, I was able to leverage a lot of different resources I knew because of how long I worked there. I was able to leverage my primary language, which is Spanish. Here, I might not necessarily leverage that language as much, but, definitely, just getting to know the community, getting to know the supports that exist in the area, I think that that will be the starting point to leverage some of those supports.

 

Q: Looking at that question a different way: Given the smaller percentage of students who are what the state categorizes as economically disadvantaged, is it harder to help that group when they're so much in the minority versus in a setting where a lot of people are coming from the same place? Does that create a unique set of challenges in a school like Williamstown?

 

Torres: I think maybe the opposite, to be honest. I felt like in Holyoke there's a lot of students who are struggling a great deal, both financially and with some of the things they have to live through and experience as kiddos. I think that in Holyoke, that seemed to be very overwhelming, in a good way, but overwhelming nonetheless. The beauty of what we had in Holyoke is our school principal was very intentional about the work we did. So she ended up creating a lot of different supports and put a lot of tools and resources to ensure we were always supporting that group of students.

 

Here, it seems, based on the numbers that I have been studying over the last few weeks, the population is smaller, the supports are smaller, but it seems a lot more manageable in my opinion.

 

When I've heard of different challenges in terms of discipline and behavior here at Williamstown, I look at what we experienced and witnessed in Holyoke, and it's drastically different. We were dealing with a lot of kids who were going hungry or not having a place they can go and sleep and spend the night. So those were very significant challenges that we had to handle on a daily basis. Here, the community seems to be very responsive to the needs of this group of students. I understand, from the work I've done with the district, that they do focus on providing that equity for the students here, ensuring that they receive all the tools and the supports needed to ensure their success.

 

Q: You've talked about the mission statement and the values of the district. A lot of that has been tested the last few years. There's been, and I'm sure you've heard, people very public about it — going to School Committee meetings and talking about their kids experiencing things. And, in response to that, the district is developing new incident response procedures and that sort of thing. Are you happy with where that is, and do you think what is being put in place is going to help address some of the tensions?

 

Torres: I'll be honest. When I was about to make a decision of whether I was going to accept the job or not, I did look into this. And I watched over a year's worth of recording from the School Committee meetings. And what was very evident to me was that, regardless of what transpired, the School Committee and the district were really committed in moving forward and healing and repairing some of the harm that was described.

 

As an outsider looking in, I felt very compelled by the work that they were willing to put in and the vulnerability that they decided to have to say, 'Yes, we do have an issue with our incident responses.' And that vulnerability and that space where they basically said, 'We're going to do something about it,' has been very intentional.

 

From the moment I started interviewing to tomorrow [Aug. 14] we have a meeting in the district office to talk more about this, this has been communicated to me in a very transparent way. They have been very transparent in terms of what transpired and, more importantly, what we want to do to repair some of these challenges that the school experienced.

 

My commitment is to be as open-minded as I can. Obviously, I haven't experienced anything yet that makes me believe that we have a major issue here. But my commitment is: I want a school setting where all students are valued, all families are valued. And that's something that I'm going to be fostering as much as I can. It is also the commitment of the district and the school committee as well.

 

Q: On a happier note, you mentioned the relationship with Williams College. Do you have any thoughts on how that can be strengthened?

 

Torres: At my previous school, we had a lot of significant partnerships around the community. I, actually, had the opportunity to review the outreach report that Williams College put out in terms of the collaboration between WES and them. And I was just blown away with the amount of collaboration that exists.

 

I met with some of the staff members from Williams College, and we talked about more opportunities to continue to expand what we're doing. Obviously, I do have to go through the learning curve of understanding the school, understanding the systems that currently exist. But, based on the report that I saw and the dialogues I've been having with the district, it is a partnership that we value. And wouldn't say it's underutilized, but the partnership will be leveraged a lot more in the next few years. We already started having some conversations around this particular topic. And we're looking now to look for new opportunities and new areas where we can definitely focus on expanding.