HOLLIS – SAU 41 announced recently that Amy Rowe will replace Jeanne Saunders as director of student services for the school system, beginning July 1.

Rowe will take over the position that Saunders has held since 2010 after being appointed by the SAU Governing Board in May. Saunders announced her resignation earlier this year and will begin a new position in the Hudson School District next month.

Superintendent Susan Hodgdon said Rowe had the kind of experience she and other SAU officials were looking for.

Rowe currently works as the assistant director of Special Instructional Services for SAU 39, covering the districts of Souhegan Cooperative, Amherst and Mont Vernon, a position she has held for four years.

Previously, she worked as a special education administrator at Souhegan High School for six years and a program director for NFI Contoocook School for five years.

Rowe received a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Franklin Pierce College, a master’s in education in intergrated studies from Notre Dame College and is currently pursuing a certificate of advanced graduate study in school administration from Plymouth State University.

The position was first posted by the SAU in mid-April and pulled in about 20 applicants. Of those, Hodgdon said, only half were fully completed.

A search panel, which included school administrators, a School Board representative, a parent representative and other school staff, was pulled together to review the applications and conduct interviews.

Rowe was selected out of four finalists interviewed by the search committee.

Hodgdon said it was Rowe’s administrative experience, with things like grant management, PreK-12 programming, and effective relationship-
building and communication with students and families in crisis, that stood out to members of the search committee.

“We were looking for someone with some experience, someone who could step in in July and hit the ground running with a strong background in key areas,” Hodgdon said.

Danielle Curtis can be reached at 594-6557 or dcurtis@nashuatelegraph.com. Also follow Curtis on Twitter (Telegraph_DC).