Great Barrington — Monument Mountain Regional High School Principal Kristi Farina has announced that she is retiring at the end of the school year.
According to her LinkedIn profile, Farina started with the school district in August 1990 as a mathematics teacher. She became the Berkshire Hills Regional School District’s director of learning and teaching in July 2017, where she served for two years before becoming the principal of Monument Mountain.
Farina announced her retirement on ParentSquare, a school community messaging service, on Wednesday, April 10. “After 34 years with the Berkshire Hills Regional School District, I have made the difficult decision to retire as principal of Monument Mountain Regional High School at the end of the 2023–2024 school year,” Farina wrote in her announcement. “It is time for me to put the health and well-being of me and my family first, given a cascade of family misfortunes over the past several years. I feel blessed and honored to have served as principal at Monument Mountain for the past five years after having spent 27 years in the classroom and two years as Director of Learning and Teaching. During my tenure in leadership, I am proud to have secured over 1.5 million dollars in grant funding and built a series of partnerships with educational leadership in our region and beyond to augment and bolster our work. I know this network will continue to bring funding, experience, and resources to assist after I depart.”
Farina wrote, “As I have said so many times before, this community is an extended part of my family.”
“It has been a privilege to work alongside the hardworking and dedicated faculty and staff; their commitment to educating our students and their value of education are unsurpassed,” Farina wrote. “I also extend my deep appreciation to our parents and community partners, who always go above and beyond to support our school and the students. The expanse of offerings and opportunities both here in the building and the community are a testament to the depth of the dedication and support.”
Farina wrote that “it is the students who I will miss the most.”
“The energy and Spartan spirit they embody will be something I will never forget or replace,” Farina said. “Spending my lifetime with the young adults of this community has kept me young at heart and inspired me to continue my learning journey for constant betterment. It is my sincere desire that the hard work and dedication to true Student-Adult partnership continues long beyond my tenure. I have taken great pleasure in seeing hundreds of students develop and flourish as confident, successful young people, leaving Monument on their own paths to success.”
Farina said that she will continue to work until July 5.
She is the second principal in the past month to announce that she is leaving the school district.
Back in March, Muddy Brook Elementary School Principal Kate Retzel announced that she would be leaving the district at the end of the school year.
