NASHUA – Richard Boardman is embarking on a “professional and personal mission to come back home,” part of which involves stepping in as the new principal of Mount Pleasant Elementary School.

Boardman is the current executive director of the Gate City Charter School for the Arts and was the principal at North Hampton Elementary School before that.

He will place current principal Patricia Snow, who is retiring.

In this time at Gate City Charter, he said he missed the collaboration and support network that comes with having an entire district behind you, one of the many reasons he is excited to start in Nashua.

Boardman, raised in Merrimack, said that after a number of years living elsewhere in the state or country, a series of family tragedies made him reevaluate what was important.

“I took some time to figure out what I wanted personally and professionally,” he said. Working in the Nashua School District, he said, would be fulfilling for both aspects of his life.

“I love the notion of a traditional neighborhood school,” he said, adding that while at Mount Pleasant he hopes to “celebrate what we have.”

The school has a strong staff and parent community already, he said, and he is “ready to help them take the next step

forward.”

That being said, besides always working to improve the climate and culture of the school, to go in with set goals before first talking to staff about their needs would be “naive,” he said.

Another reason Boardman is excited about starting in Nashua is the ability to just focus on being an educator.

“In a charter school you have to balance (being an educator) with being a businessman,” he said.

Instead, he would like to focus on “the whole child,” not just numbers, and he noted the many children right now are struggling with their social, emotional and mental health. This is something he feels he can help with.

During Monday night’s Board of Education meeting, after Boardman was officially named principal, members commented that his experiences in charter schools and his knowledge concerning why students leave public schools for charter schools would be an asset to the district.

As for Boardman himself, he is looking forward to what he views as coming home.

Hannah LaClaire can be reached at 594-1243 or hlaclaire@nashuatelegraph.com.