Brenda Kelley, Ed.S.

Morris Elementary School
Lenox Public Schools
Lenox, Massachusetts
bkelley@lenoxps.org

Brenda Kelley fell in love with education working in a daycare center while earning her undergraduate degree. She later served as a reading specialist for 13 years before becoming principal 10 years ago. Drawing on these foundations, Kelley is a natural cultivator of a culture of literacy and an effective instructional leader. In addition to helping teachers identify and apply research-based teaching methods tailored to diverse learners, Kelley has proven herself a capable unifier, having led a divided staff at her first school to confront and ultimately halve an all-time-high rate of discipline referrals by revamping PBIS. At Morris Elementary, the pre-K through fifth grade school where she has served for the past four years, Kelley is particularly proud to have helped guide a staff with little to no technological skills through the challenging transition to distance learning. In this period, she took the lead in building a structured summer learning program helping ensure ongoing differentiation practices to preserve learning continuity for students. Kelley views herself as “a student’s principal” and is resourceful and creative in ensuring students have access to a full education beyond the classroom, including by regularly providing financial assistance for students without the means to participate in extracurricular activities. Morris Elementary received an Exemplary Reading Program Award by the Massachusetts Reading Association in 2025. Kelley holds a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study Ed.S. in Language and Literacy from Simmons University, an M.Ed. from Cambridge College, and a B.A. in Education from North Adams State College.