Darien BOE appoints Bynes as assistant superintendent for Secondary Ed

The Darien Board of Education and Superintendent of Schools Stephen V. Falcone announce the appointment of Matthew Byrnes as assistant superintendent for secondary education in the Darien Public Schools. He will assume the role vacated by Falcone.

Byrnes has had a distinguished career in education, having served most recently as principal of Brewster High School in New York since 2004. In that role, Byrnes was instrumental in establishing and cultivating a culture focused on inquiry-based approaches to student learning, collaborative teaming and broad use of assessments.

His development of the Professional Learning Community model has contributed to greater program coherence and improved student performance at Brewster High School.

He has worked closely with his colleagues at the middle school to align curricular areas which have served to improve program consistency and coherence. He has been noted as a person who is held in high regard by students, parents, and teachers because of his desire to solve problems collaboratively, maintain a focus on instruction, and promote a school culture of respect.

Byrnes began his teaching career in California where he was an English instructor at San Francisco State University and an English teacher at Balboa High School in San Francisco. He then served as a dean of students and assistant principal before becoming principal at Novato High School in Novato, Calif., in 2002.

A native of New Jersey, Byrnes returned to the east in 2004 where he assumed the position of principal at Brewster High School.

Byrnes earned his undergraduate Bachelor of Arts degree in english and political ccience from Duke University. He received a graduate Master of Arts in english, composition and pedagogy from San Francisco State University. Byrnes earned an additional master's degree in educational administration from the University of California, Berkeley, where he has also done doctoral work.

Professionally, Byrnes has been active in the Tri-State Consortium as a co-leader and member of visits as well as the coordinator of the Brewster visit to examine their language arts program. He has been a fellow at the Center for Urban Education at the University of California at Berkeley and has co-authored a paper, "Enabling High Schools to Assess Schoolwide Results of Reform."

Byrnes resides with his wife and family in Ridgefield and will begin his duties after Oct. 1.