Administration

I have been Assistant Principal at Spaulding High School since 2013 and had previously been a behavior specialist and special educator at SHS for four years prior to that. While I grew up throughout Lamoille County, as an adult, I have lived in both Barre City and Barre Town and truly appreciate the beauty, heritage, honesty, and pride in Central Vermont. Through my own life experiences and formal education, I have come to strongly believe that personal growth is a lifelong journey and that the necessary ingredients are a blend of individual reflection, and interpersonal dialogue, and connection. Every struggle we face provides an opportunity in one way or another.

In the summer I play a lot of softball and golf with my daughter, Emma, and in the winter I stay inside, where it's warm. Otherwise, I enjoy reading, home improvement, DIY, crafting and making Lichtenberg Figures in wood. Someday I would like to chase storms in the midwest.

My name is Jim Ferland and I am one of the two assistant principals at Spaulding High School. I began my career working with young people almost by accident in 1989 when I was hired to work for the Baird Center (now the Howard Center) as an awake-overnight counselor for children in residential care. That position was the start of a long and winding road in the educational field which led to my role as an alternative program educator at Harwood Union High School in 2000, the year in which I acquired my teaching license through the Peer Review process.

That role primed me for the next step in my career as an administrator. My skill set seemed well-suited for an assistant principal position and while pursuing my endorsement at Saint Michael’s College, I was hired by Spaulding High School to fill a vacant assistant principal position in the summer of 2016.

My children graduated from Spaulding and I have been part of the Barre community since the late 1990s. I have grown to love this community and this school. The strength of this school is the students. They are why this is a great school. I pride myself in being student-centered in my approach and take every opportunity that comes my way to involve myself in student-led initiatives. I want to be remembered by Tide Nation not for what I have to do in my job but rather, what I choose to do.

As I mentioned earlier, I have two great kids, Emma (Class of 2013) and Ben (Class of 2014) who are proud card-carrying members of Tide Nation! Ben and his wife, Marisa (Class of 2013), have blessed me with two twin g-babies, Peyton and Liam, who recently turned one year old! In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with friends and golfing. I love to read (actual books!) and have a growing collection of over 700 vinyl records with a strong emphasis on classic rock. I am old school and proud of it!