New London — Nicholas Spera, the former principal at Marine Science Magnet High School in Groton, has accepted a job leading the Interdistrict School for Arts and Communication, a charter middle school in New London.

ISAAC made the announcement Thursday that Spera had accepted the position as the new executive director and principal — a day after his sudden mid-year resignation announcement. He will start work at ISAAC on Friday.

ISAAC’s board of directors voted on Spera’s hire at a special meeting earlier this week. He has a three-year contract earning $175,000 annually.

The school has been without a permanent executive director since the mid-year resignation of David Howes in April 2019. The school has been actively recruiting qualified candidates and conducted two searches over the past year. Spera was one of three candidates in the latest search.

“We’re very excited. It’s our goal to improve test scores, to improve student achievement,” ISAAC board Chairman Christopher Jones said. “We feel this is a good fit.”

Asked about his mid-year change in jobs, Spera said he was recruited, as other schools have tried to do on past occasions. This time, Spera said that despite his love of the staff and students at the marine magnet school, he did not want to pass up the ISAAC opportunity. He said he was a finalist for the ISAAC job 10 years ago.

Spera had been away from the marine magnet school since December, having been granted a leave of absence from LEARN, which runs the school, because of an illness of a family member. LEARN Associate Executive Director Ryan Donlon is serving as the school’s acting principal.

“I have a long-term opportunity here. I am absolutely excited,” Spera said of the ISAAC job. “This is definitely an opportunity for growth in my career and an opportunity to continue to work with students of southeastern Connecticut.”

Spera said that at ISAAC he hopes to continue some of the same partnerships he cultivated while in Groton. He said he also is impressed with the school culture and climate.

“I’ve never seen a board more invested in a school ... My goal is for this to be one of the best middle schools in Connecticut." Spera said.

Retired New London school district administrator Louis E. Allen Jr. is presently serving as interim executive director and Jaye Wilson, a retired former elementary school principal, as interim principal at ISAAC. Allen is expected to stay at the school part-time until mid-February and Wilson until June. Both will help in Spera’s transition, board members said.

Spera joins ISAAC in a year it is seeking a state charter renewal, a process that involved a visit Wednesday from state education officials. The school was last granted a five-year charter in 2015 and having a full-time executive director is expected to bolster its credentials ahead of the renewal decision from the commissioner of education.

ISAAC board Vice Chairwoman Heather Doughty said the renewal process will include a public hearing on March 11 with a recommendation on charter renewal expected in May.

“At this point we are confident we will be renewed,” she said.

The charter renewal can be issued for one to five years.

Spera, who started his career in 2001 as a middle school math teacher and later served as the dean of students at Guilford High School, was the Marine Magnet High School’s founding director when it opened in 2011. He was the recipient of the 2012-13 William Cieslukowski First-Year Principal of the Year Award from the Connecticut Association of Schools. Among a host of other awards, Spera in 2016 earned the honor of Magnet Schools of America Magnet Principal of the Year for Region 1, which covers the six New England states, New Jersey and New York.

The marine magnet school, which has received numerous accolades and awards, is owned by LEARN, a regional education center that serves more than two dozen towns in southeastern Connecticut and along the shoreline. The so-called “fish school” enrolls 271 students. 

It consistently has been ranked as one of the top schools in the state in an annual Next Generation Accountability System, a school report card issued each year by the state Department of Education. The accountability index is a 12-factor system that weighs growth in areas such as English language arts, math, graduation rate and college enrollment.

The marine magnet school earned a 95 for the 2017-18 school year, seventh in the state. The state average was 74.9. 

ISAAC has been at the other end of the spectrum — despite increases in some categories in recent years, it earned a 50.6 for the 2017-18 school year.

ISAAC has 276 students and was founded in 1997 parents who had helped create the nearby Regional Multicultural Magnet School and wanted to continue the idea of integrating art, music and multicultural education.

ISAAC issued letters from the board of directors and Spera to the school community on Thursday afternoon announcing Spera’s hire.

“Over the next several weeks ahead, I cannot wait to meet all of you in an effort to develop a tight bond towards continuing the tradition of providing a high quality, equitable education rooted through the arts and communications for all of our students at ISAAC,” Spera wrote. “You will find that I will be deeply committed and invested in the work needed to support our students at ISAAC.”

g.smith@theday.com