Principal shuffle continues

Published 10:53 am Tuesday, May 8, 2012

WINDSOR – Bertie High School is slated to get yet another principal.

The school, which had five leaders during the 2011-12 academic year, will have a former head administrator return to the post after a decision reached by the Bertie County Board of Education.

Last week the school district’s governing body approved a transfer of Elaine White back to the high school after a seven-year hiatus in which she has been principal of three others schools.

This will, in fact, be White’s third assignment in three years having led Aulander Elementary School in 2010-11 and then Windsor Elementary School during the current academic year. During the seven years she was gone from the high school she also served as Principal of what was then the Serendipity School.

While White will be making her way back for her second stint as Principal of Bertie High School, Rickey Eley will be ending his second tenure there. Eley has been transferred to serve as Principal of Windsor Elementary School.

Eley was serving as Principal of Colerain Elementary last year when he was asked to accept the appointment to Bertie High following a five-month span in which Glenwood Mitchell retired and that was followed by a series of developments that left the job open again in November.

He will now be moved back to the elementary level where he will become Windsor Elementary School’s fourth principal in four years and the fifth in the past six years.

The school was led by White last year and Karen Rodman the year before. Renee Duckenfield served two years as principal in 2008-09 and 2009-10 before her retirement. Orlando Dobbin was the principal before Duckenfield.

All of the principals have been shuffled by the Bertie County Board of Education other than Duckenfield’s retirement.

The other school affected by last week’s decision will be Aulander Elementary School. That school will get its third principal in three years. Rodman took over the school last year after being swapped by the board from Windsor to Aulander. White served the school the year before that.

Now, Bertie STEM Principal Lisa Parker will be moved to Aulander to take over the school. Parker is in her first year as Principal of Bertie STEM following Mitchell’s retirement.

Rodman will accept her fourth position in four years within the district. She was an assistant principal at Bertie Middle School before moving to Windsor and then Aulander. She will now become Director of Central Support Services at the school district’s administrative offices.

Bertie STEM will now be under the leadership of Andrew Harris, who will also continue to guide the Bertie Early College High School.

“All of our principals and leaders bring unique strengths and experiences to the table and we have tried to match strengths with need,” Bertie County Schools Superintendent Dr. Debbie Harris-Rollins said.

Two other administrators making moves in the coming year will be assistant principals. Joseph Hollington will move from Bertie Prep High School to Bertie Middle School. Calvin Moore will make the adjustment from Bertie Middle to Bertie High as an assistant principal.

All of the administrative moves are scheduled to take effect July 1.