Former Newtown super named interim of Region 12 for a second time
WASHINGTON — Just one day before outgoing Superintendent Marc Gosselin Jr.’s resignation from the district was publicly announced, Lorrie Rodrigue was appointed to Region 12’s interim superintendent for a second time.
Gosselin, who started his role as superintendent this past January, is resigning from his position for “personal reasons,” according to the school board’s Dec. 12 message to the district community.
His resignation was announced the day after the school board was expected to discuss the superintendent contract during a special meeting on Dec. 11, according to the school board agenda. The board also held special meetings on Dec. 9 and Nov. 29 where the superintendent contract was on the agenda.
Gosselin’s last day was expected to be Dec. 31, though Rodrigue said Gosselin is currently on leave. The Region 12 school board chairman could not be reached for comment.
Following her retirement as superintendent of Newtown, Rodrigue served as interim superintendent of Region 12 — a district that includes Washington, Bridgewater and Roxbury — from July to December 2022. Gosselin was named superintendent of Region 12 in October 2022, replacing Megan Bennett, who resigned as superintendent at the end of the 2021-22 school year.
Rodrigue said she was working part-time as a human resources coordinator at Region 12 when the school board approached her about the interim superintendent position. She said she was appointed interim superintendent on Dec. 11 and will assume the role on Jan. 1.
Rodrigue said her goals include ensuring the district’s teachers have what they need in terms of resources and that the district’s staff development and Agriscience program continue.
Additionally, she said the district will hold community conversations on a variety of topics, including a January conversation on safety and security, which Rodrigue said is “something I happen to be well versed in coming out of Newtown.”
“There’s a lot of important work going on right now that I want to make sure that momentum continues in a positive and productive way,” Rodrigue said.
From Newtown to Region 12
In Newtown, Rodrigue said she spent eight years as an English teacher, with six years of teaching at Newtown Middle School and two years of teaching at Newtown High. She later served as assistant principal of Newtown High for five years.
From 2005 to 2008, Rodrigue served as principal of Shepaug Valley Middle School, and while she was only in Region 12 for a few years, Rodrigue said she “really grew to love the community.”
“It just is a caring, warm, smaller community,” she said of Region 12, “and I really have a lot of respect for the staff, the administrators, the Board of Education and the whole community.”
Rodrigue served as principal at Pomeraug High School in Southbury and later became principal of Newtown High from 2014 to 2017. She was named Connecticut Association of Schools’ Principal of the Year in 2017 while at Newtown High and, after a year as interim superintendent, became superintendent of Newtown in 2018.
Rodrigue announced her decision in December 2021 to retire as superintendent in order to attend to her aging parents. Her retirement became official June 30, 2022, and she began working as a part-time human resources coordinator for Region 12 this past February.