Matthew Poska, named principal of Elm Street Middle School

NASHUA – Recommended by Superintendent of Schools Jahmal Mosley and approved last week by the Board of Education, former Massachusetts educator Matthew Poska arrived Monday at his new post leading Elm Street Middle School.

Poska, who succeeds interim principal Mario Andrade, comes to Nashua from Beverly, Massachusetts, where he served as principal of the city’s former Briscoe Middle School from 2006 to 2018, then continued as principal of the new Beverly Middle School when it opened in 2018.

Poska, 50, joins Elm Street assistant principals Kelly Holmes and Richard Simoneau as the school’s administrative team.

Poska, a native of Lynn who currently lives in Gloucester, told Beverly officials in February that he would be resigning at the end of the school year, and was “actively pursuing other opportunities, according to a report in The Salem (Massachusetts) News.

“I’ve been here for 16 years. It’s bittersweet, believe me. Beverly has welcomed me as one of their own,” Poska told the newspaper at the time.

Beverly, at 42,000 about half the population of Nashua, has just the one middle school, which serves about 1,400 students in grades 5-8. It has five elementary schools, a public preschool, and one high school.

According to Nashua School District spokeswoman Stacy Hynes, Poska has spent his career in secondary schools in Massachusetts, having started as a history teacher at the Thurgood Marshall Middle School in Lynn.

He is a former hockey coach for Lynn English and Swampscott high schools. He was also an assistant principal and director of athletics at Saugus High School.

Poska has a bachelor degree in history/secondary education from Merrimack College, a masters in secondary school administration from Salem State College, and completed the Instructional Leadership Program at the National Institute of School Leadership in Haverhill.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.

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