Hello, thank you for visiting the Salisbury Community School website! We hope you find it useful. Please feel free to reach out with any suggestions you might have for changes or additional information that could be useful. 

My name is Bjarki Sears, and I am excited to be stepping into the principal's role at Salisbury Community School in the fall of 2022. Although new to this specific job, I have long experience in education. I began my career as a middle school paraeducator at Twinfield Union School in Marshfield, Vermont, while I was getting licensed to be a high school social studies teacher (I've always loved history and the social studies- it felt natural). I moved to Addison County in 2005 with my wife, Eileen, so she could teach at MUMS, and worked at Mary Hogan Elementary School as a paraeducator while I finished my teaching certification and obtained my license. In that process, I left Mary Hogan to student teach at Middlebury Union High School.

What followed were 16 really fun years of being a classroom teacher. I very much enjoyed teaching, but over time I found myself wanting to be more and more involved in the management of things, and to be a major part of creating solutions to the problems, and paths to the opportunities, that schools encounter every day. When the opportunity to be the principal of Salisbury school came open, I knew it was time to jump. 

Why? Because Salisbury Community School is a fantastic place, in a fantastic community. I know, because I taught Salisbury kids for 16 years: worked with them in and out of class, coached them, announced their games on the radio, met their families, saw them experience orientation days, Winter Carnivals, proms, and graduations. I have seen the influence of their time at SCS on their ability to cooperate with others, to build a community, to stick to work even when it isn't fun, and to have a good time when it is fun. They speak glowingly of the teachers they have had- and you feel it when you walk in the building today. Salisbury Community School has an experienced and award-winning staff- we are very lucky to have them. My job is to facilitate their jobs, and make their work easier and even more effective. 

So why would a high school teacher come to an elementary school? Because it is in the younger years where we see the most impact for our input. It is clear from research that gains made, and gaps that occur, when a student is young have profound impacts on students' later success- a month for our youngest students can be like a year for our oldest ones. Teaching high school was a blast, but as a leader I believe the younger grades are where we can make our greatest gains. I want to be a part of that. 

I live locally with my wife and two children, who both attend ACSD schools. In my free time I enjoy playing guitar, reading (especially about interesting places or history), hiking and camping, carting my kids around to various things (lots and lots of hockey rinks), and hanging out in my family's log cabin up in the Northeast Kingdom, where I was raised. 

Please feel free to reach out to me about anything- I am always happy to engage in a good conversation.