Superintendent

Dr. Julie L. Hackett

Superintendent of Schools
Lexington Public Schools · lexingtonma.org · Instagram @lexingtonsuper
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Dr. Julie Hackett has served as Superintendent of the Lexington Public Schools since 2018. For over three decades, her work has been driven by a singular purpose: creating inclusive schools where every child belongs, finds their voice, and takes ownership of their learning.

U.S. News ranks Lexington High School among the top five in Massachusetts and the top 1 percent nationally. Four Lexington schools have earned National Blue Ribbon honors, held by fewer than 1 percent of U.S. schools, including Hastings (2020), Harrington (2024), and Estabrook (2025) was named one of only six Massachusetts nominees.

In December 2025, Lexington voters approved a new $659.7 million high school, set to open in 2029. Dr. Hackett wrote the district's Statement of Interest, developed with the Master Planning Committee, and its Educational Plan, shaped by Lexington High School educators, leaders, and students. She also created and led a Student School Building Committee, one of the first in Massachusetts. Over her career, she has worked on ten school construction projects.

Her career began in Maine, where she taught high school English before advancing to dean of students, principal, and curriculum director, alongside teaching graduate courses at the University of Maine. A National Writing Project fellow, she transitioned to Massachusetts in 2007 as Assistant Superintendent in Taunton. In 2008, she was appointed Deputy Superintendent for Teaching and Learning in Brookline, where she helped lead efforts to develop an equity-focused strategic plan. She has since guided strategic planning efforts in Taunton and Lexington and for the nonprofit Boys & Girls Club of Greater Taunton.

In 2009, she returned to Taunton as Superintendent of Schools, spending a decade in a diverse district of 8,200 students, where she championed at-risk youth and helped bring free meals to students year-round. Together, Taunton's educators, students, and families improved student outcomes and built a more inclusive school community. The district reached its highest graduation rate and lowest dropout rate on record, and Hopewell Elementary was designated a National Blue Ribbon School.

Dr. Hackett’s fellow superintendents elected her President of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, named her 2018 Massachusetts Superintendent of the Year, and she was selected as the state's nominee for National Superintendent of the Year. In 2015, she became the first superintendent to receive the Community Partnership Award from the Federation of Children with Special Needs, and in 2026, she received the METCO Leon Trilling Award.

Convinced that children learn best when their families are secure, Dr. Hackett also works alongside community partners who help immigrant families understand their rights and pursue permanent residency, and she supports local efforts to address food insecurity and help unhoused families.

She is the author of two books: Strategic Reading: Guiding Students to Lifelong Literacy, 6-12 (Heinemann, 2001) and Building Relationships, Yielding Results: How Superintendents Can Work with School Boards to Build Collaborative Teams (Harvard Education Press, 2015). She holds bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees from the University of Maine.