Worcester school superintendent to leave in June after only 3 years (2025)

Worcester Public Schools (WPS) superintendent Dr. Rachel H. Monárrez announced Thursday she will be stepping down from her position in June.

“After deep reflection, I have accepted a superintendent position in California and will step down as Superintendent of Worcester Public Schools at the end of June 2025,” Monárrez said. “I have come from this decision taking into account the needs of my family.”

In the announcement, Monárrez said that her husband, Jesus, is retired and she and her husband will spend more time together with their family and friends in their home state of California.

The superintendent said that she had made the Worcester School Committee, including its chairman Mayor Joseph M. Petty, along with her WPS Cabinet team, aware of her decision to step down.

“I am committed to ensuring a smooth transition,” she said. “I am confident that the momentum we have built together will carry Worcester Public Schools forward to even greater success.”

Monárrez was hired as Worcester’s superintendent in 2022.

During her tenure, the city saw the completion of the newly constructed Doherty High School and launched the new Burncoat High School construction project.

She, along with Petty, announced in April that WPS joined a federal lawsuit as a declarant speaking out against the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education.

Monárrez oversaw a large deficit in the spring of 2024 she attributed to a lack of state funding.

In a statement on Thursday, Petty thanked Monárrez, calling the superintendent “thoughtful, astute, and honest.”

“Superintendent Monárrez’s vision for our scholars and her awareness of how to make schools better has brought the Worcester Public Schools to the next level,” Petty said. “Her genuine disposition and brilliant mind have made me feel confident in anything she has ever had to say.”

Other elected officials reacted to Monárrez’s announcement on Thursday as well.

“I am heartbroken that we are losing Superintendent Monarrez,” District 5 Councilor Etel Haxhiaj wrote on X. “Her tenure has been one of the brightest spots for Worcester Public Schools students. Family always comes first. I wish Dr. Monarrez the absolute best, as she and her family deserves.”

School Committee member Sue Mailman told MassLive that she is grateful for the superintendent and that Worcester is losing “an extraordinary leader.”

“I’m eternally grateful that she spent three years in our city changing a culture and lifting standards,” Mailman said. “Our community will be forever grateful. Her vision and our work must push forward.”