High school opening postponed one day

The cafeteria will be ready as workers make last minute connections before moving the furniture in last Thursday. photo by mlc

A connect-ed phone call was sent out to the Rockland community today to announce that the first day of school for the high school will be postponed one day. High school students will report for classes on Wednesday, September 5th instead of Tuesday. The middle school and all elementary schools will open on the regularly scheduled day and time.

The reason, according to Mr. Retchless, Superintendent of Schools, is so that high school teachers can set up their classrooms and prepare for the first day.

The first day that teachers could access their classrooms was today (Thursday, August 30). Traditionally, all teachers have access to their buildings an entire week before the opening of school.

This year, the on-going construction made it impossible for the classrooms to be accessed. In fact, many parts of the high school were closed off or unsafe to go through until today because of construction.

The postponement will also give custodians, who have been working hard to get things ready, a little breathing room to make sure that all classrooms are in tip top shape.

New Rogers Middle School opens on schedule

State Representative Rhonda Nyman, Project Manager McCarthy watch as Rockland School Committee Chairman Norris, John W. Rogers and Rockland Superintendent of Schools, John Retchless cut the ribbon for Rockland’s new middle school.

8/30/2012

On Saturday, August 25, the new Rogers Middle School was officially opened with a ribbon cutting ceremony and a community tour that was attended by well over 500 that included residents, students, former superintendents, teachers, and officials from various agencies and committees that figured strongly in the project’s conception to completion.

The old middle school stands to the right of the new middle school that officially opened last Saturday.

With the old Rogers Middle School standing in nostalgic contrast to the right of the new building, residents filed in after the ribbon cutting to view the state of the art building that will house Rockland’s middle school students, grades 5 through 8.

The acknowledged hero of the project, Dr. John W. Rogers, for whom both middle schools are named, spoke of his pride, passion and gratitude in “still being alive,” (he’s 80 years old), to see this day.  Rogers is the Chairman of the School Building Committee and was Rockland’s school superintendent for 15 years in the seventies and eighties.

A video that looks back at the history of the middle school project composed by Mr. David Murphy of WRPS can be found here. 

RMS Grand Opening Video from David Cable-Murphy on Vimeo.

New RHS principal, Alan Cron, ready for challenge

Mr. Cron talks about his new position as RHS Principal.

8/29/2012

It would be difficult enough to assume a completely new position as a high school principal in a completely different school system in a completely new town while also having to follow an immensely popular retiring principal to whom no one wanted to say goodbye.

But added to these normal situations, Alan Cron, new RHS Principal must also preside over the opening of a high school building still very much under construction that lies in the shadow of a brand spanking new, state of the art middle school.
Given all these situations, it would be surprising if Mr. Cron were not just a little apprehensive. But, as RHS students will find out, the former Milton High School vice principal is excited to be here and is ready to face the challenges and lead us through a great 2012-13 school year.

Our in-depth interview with Mr. Cron will be coming soon so watch for it here and in our print edition coming out in October.