MIDDLEBORO — When students begin the school year later this month, many of their days will be spent listening, learning and meeting people.

Carolyn Lyons can relate. 

As Middleboro’s new superintendent of schools, she will be doing much of the same.

She plans to spend a significant portion of her first year connecting with staff, students, families and town officials such as the police and fire chief and the town manager. 

Lyons wants to hear their concerns and insights about the school district. 

“I need to listen,’’ she said. “I need to learn through listening. I’m excited to do that.’’ 

Lyons began working as Middleboro’s superintendent July 1. She was unanimously selected by the Middleboro School Committee in March to replace the outgoing retiring superintendent Brian Lynch.

With seven years in the top spot, Lynch had “wonderful consistency,’’ something she said she plans to emulate. 

Although she is new to the superintendent’s position, Lyons is no stranger to the Middleboro schools. She has spent a decade working in the town’s district. 

A native of nearby Avon, she has been familiar with Middleboro her entire life. 

Lyons joined Middleboro Public Schools in 2012 as the Secondary Special Education Team Facilitator for grades 6-12. In 2016, she became the Director of Pupil Personnel Services, a role she held until her appointment as superintendent.

But her background differs from that of many superintendents. Her original focus was a courtroom, not a classroom.

Lyons graduated cum laude from Smith College where she earned a bachelor’s degree in government and economics. She earned her Doctor of Jurisprudence from Suffolk University Law School in 2007.

Prior to joining the Middleborough administration, Lyons practiced education law with the firm of Murphy, Hesse, Toomey, and Lehane, LLP. With a focus on special education law, Lyons helped to represent school districts across Massachusetts, including Middleboro. 

As part of this work, she developed a strong interest in issues facing special education students and their families. She became an advocate for families, ensuring they understood their rights and were comfortable speaking up for their children. 

“I found myself incredibly pulled to what was happening in the [school] buildings,’’ she said.

So when she heard about an available secondary special education team facilitator position, she decided to switch careers to focus directly on the needs of the special education community. “I fell in love with it,’’ she said.

Four years later, she became the director of pupil personnel services, which “began my trajectory into the central office.’’

This background, which she acknowledged is “less conventional’’ than most educators, brings unique skills to her new job, she said.

Her legal training keeps her open to varying approaches to issues.

“In education, sometimes there is a desire to do things as they’ve always been done,’’ she said. “I don’t feel beholden to those practices. If there is an innovative way to do it, I’ll do it.’’

She definitely supports a collaborative approach, she said. 

When Covid hit, she immediately included parents in decision-making, which she said was not always the case in every school district.

Involving families during such a tumultuous time may have differed from some approaches but that did not concern her. “I wasn’t ruled by fear. I don’t live in fear. You cannot lead from fear.’’

Covid reinforced the importance of ensuring that students have their social and emotional needs met as well as their academics. 

“Gone are the days when we can just focus on English and math. The world has gotten very complicated for the kids,’’ she said. “They deserve an all-encompassing, expansive education.’’

Subsequently, her focus will be on students, including during her initial introductory outreach period.

“The most important stakeholders are students,’’ she said. “It would be an egregious error not to give them a voice.’’