Great Barrington — Williamstown native Christopher Barnes, who started work as the new principal for Monument Mountain Regional High School in July, said that he got into the education field because he wanted to make a positive difference in the lives of young people. “Growing up, I struggled a lot in school,” Barnes told The Berkshire Edge. “I’m one of 12 kids in my family. I have many siblings who did extremely well and went to grade school. I wasn’t one of them. I took a long route through my undergraduate years because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. Ultimately, I arrived with an understanding that, whatever I did with my career, it had to be impactful. I recalled that the people who impacted my life in a positive way as a young person were teachers, and I wanted to do the same thing and help others.”
Barnes grew up in Pittsburgh, and he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature in 1996 from Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash., with a minor in Teaching English as a Second Language. In 1999, he earned his Master of Science in Education Curriculum and Instruction from McDaniel College in Westminster, Md. He would later earn an Administration and Supervision Certification in 2004 from Loyola University in Baltimore, Md.
Barnes was an elementary school teacher in the Baltimore City Public School system from 1997 to 2001. “When people ask me what is one of the most impactful experiences I’ve had as an educator, I go back to when I taught second grade in Baltimore City,” Barnes said. “We had children coming in not knowing how to read. I didn’t do it all because they did the work with me. We all did it together. What greater gift is there than giving someone the gift of reading?”
Barnes moved on to serve as the assistant principal and instructional support teacher for Waverly Middle Schools in Baltimore from 2001 to 2004, before moving on to serve as the NCATE and Professional Development School Coordinator for Loyola University from 2004 to 2009, and concluding his educational administrative work in Baltimore as an assistant principal at Towson High School from 2009 to 2011.
“I moved onto administrative roles because I wanted to have a bigger impact on education and I wanted a chance to guide instruction,” Barnes said. “Being in an administrative role is a way to have a greater impact on children and what they learn.”
Barnes said that he and his family moved to the Berkshires because they lived for a time in Washington State and fell in love with nature as a result. “Baltimore City is quite different from the Berkshires,” Barnes said. “We have four children in our family, and ultimately we wanted to live in a small community where people knew our children and where they had space to run. Our oldest child, Aiden, has Down syndrome. He is 21 years old now, but we wanted Aiden to grow up in a small community where people knew him, accepted him, and appreciated him for who he was. That all came true when we moved to Williamstown.”
From 2011 to 2013, Barnes was the acting principal and assistant principal at Mount Greylock Regional School in Williamstown. He then served as principal at Arlington Memorial Middle/High School in Arlington, Vt., from 2013 to 2015, moving on to serving as the associate principal at Mount Anthony Union High School in Bennington, Vt., from 2015 to 2021, then serving as the principal at Turners Falls High School and Great Falls Middle School from 2021 until he was named as the new principal for Monument Mountain this year.
“I’m thrilled to serve this community,” Barnes said. “The way I see my work is finding ways to provide students a better education and educational experience. I want the school community to know that I’m visible and open to their ideas and that I’m also serious about instruction and what we provide for our kids.”
Barnes said that providing students with a better educational experience comes down to what he calls “dynamic teaching.” He explained, “It’s about engaging and exciting the students to think about what they are learning. We’re not talking about rote memorization. We’re not talking about students repeating the facts that they have learned. We’re talking about wrestling with ideas and the student’s thoughts through engaging and exciting educational studies.”
Barnes said that, after 28 years of working in education, he is still excited about being a part of the field. “It’s a phenomenal feeling being a positive part of a student’s life,” Barnes said. “Frankly, educators are not in it for the money. I love working for families and communities. All schools have complex challenges, but I love the complexity and energy of schools and school districts because the passion that families and communities have about their schools is amazing.”
