East Lyme says Kelly will offer ‘stability’ as high school interim principal

East Lyme — The Board of Education has named high school Assistant Principal Deb Roselli Kelly as the school’s interim principal for the upcoming year.

The decision was approved at a special meeting late last month, said Superintendent Jeffrey Newton.

The district has been searching for a new principal since mid-May after former Principal Michael Susi resigned to accept a central office position with the Woodstock Academy.

But Newton said Monday the school system has not been able to find “that perfect match” despite receiving applications from qualified candidates.

In order to make sure “we have stability for the school during this challenging and unprecedented time,” Newton said the administration decided to ask Kelly to accept the position for now.

“Deb (Kelly) was up for it,” he said. “She knows the building so very well, knows all the staff, knows parents and she will do a great job in providing some needed leadership. … Given where we are with COVID, I think having that stability and her knowing the building and the staff is important and it will definitely be beneficial moving us forward into next year.”

Kelly, who is also a member of the Waterford Board of Education, is entering her 20th year at the high school. Kelly was hired as a school counselor in 2001 and later directed the school’s counseling department from 2011 to 2016. Since then, she has been the assistant principal.

Newton said Kelly’s role in launching a student management scheduling system and her knowledge of the overall high school schedule will

help staff as they potentially navigate between in-person, hybrid and distance forms of learning over the next year.

“She is great with the scheduling, she knows our student management system extremely well and having the background in that work will be so very important as we are modifying and adjusting schedules for kids over the coming year,” Newton said.

In addition, Newton and Kelly both said her experience in student counseling, will be beneficial to students during the uncertainty of the upcoming year.

“The year will be very challenging and it is nothing like we have ever dealt with before,” Kelly said by phone Monday. “But those challenges are exciting for me, and the teachers are great people and I’m looking forward to working through these challenges with them. I think being here for as long as I have been I have a good sense of what goes where and why and who we are and how we will be able to work with our team to play on all our strengths as we go forward.”

Newton said the district plans to continue its search for a permanent principal at some point next year, at which point internal applicants would again have the opportunity to apply before the system begins a broader search.

“We are looking for a visionary leader that will take the school into the future, somebody who will want to be with us for a number of years that will have that future vision for East Lyme High School,” Newton said. “We are looking for someone who really connects with parents, families, students and staff.”