Old Rochester Regional School District Superintendent Doug White announced this week that Derek Medeiros will succeed Moira Rodgers as Principal at Rochester Memorial School.
Rodgers resigned short of one year on the job.
Medeiros offered his own resignation from the ORR School Committee soon after his election in order to apply for the RMS principal position. Prior to his work in the Tri-Town, Medeiros served as principal at Ellen R. Hathaway Elementary School in New Bedford.
“There’s a commitment to excellence at Rochester Memorial that I really look forward to being a part of,” Medeiros said. “As a resident of Rochester, my children will eventually attend RMS. This was something I really wanted. It was an opportunity that I could not pass up, and I took a chance resigning from the School Committee to pursue it.”
White praised Medeiros’s achievements in the classroom and out, calling him a “consensus builder” and noting his work as a hockey coach.
“He has strong communication skills and uses data to monitor student learning and teacher effectiveness,” White said in a statement. “In addition, he has a strong administrative background in curriculum, budget, facilities management, professional development, staff observation and evaluation techniques.”
Medeiros said he’s eager for his tenure to start on July 22.
“I’ve always enjoyed the interaction with students and among teachers,” Medeiros said. “My goals are all about collaboration, school leadership and accountability. In today’s educational world, we really need to sit down together and talk about what’s working and what’s not. In the past, schools have looked for outside help a lot of the time from consultants, but often the answers are right in your own building.”
By Shawn Badgley
