NEWBURYPORT — With many wearing their best crimson and gold Clipper gear, Francis T. Bresnahan Elementary School students and staff on Friday celebrated what would have been the 100th birthday of the building’s namesake.
Among the highlights of Friday’s day-long birthday party was a PowerPoint presentation by Bresnahan’s granddaughter and third-grade teacher, Mary Elizabeth Pritchard.
“He was a really, really important leader in our Newburyport public schools,” Pritchard said, to her third-graders during the presentation her classroom.
Pritchard explained that he was born and raised in Newburyport, eventually leaving for college only to return right home.
“He decided to come back to his hometown when he was very young,” Pritchard said. “And he decided to become an English teacher. He taught English at Newburyport High School. He loved English and history.”
Discussing one of his earliest milestones, she said he was so good at teaching that he was asked to become the principal of the school.
“Usually, you have to apply to become a principal, and you have to have lots of interviews, and you have to prove that you’re the best candidate,” Pritchard said. “They went to him and said, ‘Hey, would you be interested in leading our school?’ So the principal is a very important position in a school, and Francis T. Bresnahan became the principal at a very young age at Newburyport High School.”
Some of his highlights as principal were starting the local chapter of the National Honors Society and what was once known as the school’s leadership class. Speaking about the leadership class, she said at one point he reached out to President John F. Kennedy to speak to students. While Kennedy was too busy to come, he did write back.
“He said, ‘I’m so proud of you for starting this class of leadership. I unfortunately cannot make it to Newburyport, but keep doing the good work that you’re doing,’” Pritchard said. “And that letter still actually hangs in my aunt’s house today from the president, which is really, really cool.”
Discussing how proud she was of her daughter spreading her father’s legacy, former Mayor Mary Anne Clancy shared that JFK was not the only president who wrote to Bresnahan.
“It was a great time in our history where these great leaders responded. I actually have a copy of a letter response from Harry Truman,” Clancy said.
In the classroom, Pritchard asked students what they thought would be taught in a leadership class.
“Fairness and equality,” one student responded, to which Pritchard agreed that learning traits of how to be a good person was absolutely a part of it.
Bresnahan eventually became superintendent, serving for 24 years, the longest tenure of any superintendent in the district’s history.
“The Superintendent’s job is to be in charge of hiring all the teachers, to be in charge of overseeing all of the schools and all of the programs,”
She noted he also was in charge of calling snow days, and joking he was “very strict” about it
One thing she said the entire district has taken from his example is the importance of getting involved.
“He was very, very adamant that all students in Newburyport and all teachers find a way to become part of their community.
Bresnahan was the superintendent until his death in 1993, according to Pritchard.
“Only two months later, the city came together and said, ‘We need to do something to honor all of his years of service. Why don’t we rename the Belleville School?’ which was the elementary school at the time,” Pritchard said.
Wrapping up the presentation, she spoke about how you do not get a building name after you unless you have done something great.
“So what I think would be great for you third-graders is to be thinking, like, what do you want to do when you’re getting older,” Pritchard said. “Like, do you want to kind of be as important as someone who might get a school named after them, or have started a class, or write to a president, and all of these really cool things?”
“Like Walt Disney,” One student called out, drawing chuckles from students and staff.
Pritchard thanked all the students for their time and the work they have been putting into their schoolwork all year.
“I hope now you guys really know why our school was named after him,” Pritchard said.