Peter Steedman, the director of the Martha’s Vineyard Charter School since 2018, will be leaving his role at the end of the academic year. 

Mr. Steedman arrived at the charter school after a long career in education that took him all over the world, including serving as the upper school principal of the Escola Americana de Campinas in Brazil.

For his next chapter, he will return to the classroom, teaching theatre at Sturgis Charter Public School in Hyannis.  

“I am really looking forward to getting back to the classroom, but gosh, I loved it here,” he said. “It has transformed me as a school leader, but also as a person.”

Mr. Steedman took over as director of the school after the retirement of longtime director Bob Moore.

“In many ways, it was an ideal situation where I didn’t have to create anything,” Mr. Steedman said. “Basically, Bob Moore gave me the keys to this humming machine and hopefully I didn’t mess it up. That was my number one priority, to not break something that had been so strong already.” 

He said he still remembers his first morning meeting at the Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School, where students and teachers gather together to start each school day.

“I was amazed that the school made that the centerpiece of how they started their day,” he said.

A significant achievement during his tenure was implementing the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum to the school, which received its official IB certification in 2020. 

“[The IB curriculum] seemed like a synergistic type of relationship where the ideas and the values and the beliefs of the charter school and the pillars of the charter school fit nicely with what the IB is trying to do,” he said. “We didn’t have to change a whole lot in terms of our purpose and the kind of projects that we were doing and the kind of rigor we were offering.” 

Mr. Steedman noted the Covid-19 pandemic as a challenging yet memorable time to lead the school.

“It’s hard to imagine when you look out in the field here, that we had a tent here where the staff had to do their testing every Thursday,” he said, gesturing out his office window. “Imagine as a teacher...thinking about the commitment of the teachers who had keep the enthusiasm going for their students.” 

Partnering with Island farms and organizations during that time was essential, he said,

“The response from the Island community, I’ve never seen anything like it. We wouldn’t have survived if the other Island partners didn’t reach out to us,” he said. “It was a moment of this struggle and stress and strife, but then to be connected with the Island partners was a really incredible time to go through.”

Many of those partnerships continue today, he said, including connections with Slough Farm, Island Grown Initiative and Featherstone Center For The Arts.

In addition to praising the teachers and school officials, Mr. Steedman said the students and their families’ support were instrumental. 

“The families of this charter school embraced me right from the very beginning,” he said. “They showed me a tremendous amount of grace when I made mistake after mistake after mistake.” 

But if he was ever feeling down, he only had to walk out of his office and step into a classroom to be uplifted.

“Sometimes we go down to kindergarten, and if I’m having a particularly difficult day, I’ll go down there and they allow me to play games with the students. I’ll miss that,” he said with a smile. 

Mr. Steedman said he is filled with appreciation for his time at the charter school, and as he looks forward to his next step, he knows the school is in good hands.

“Our staff are just remarkable educators, even better people, and truly committed to the students, truly committed to the mission,” he said.