Short to Serve As Interim Principal of Rye High School

Suzanne Short will serve as Interim Principal of Rye High School for the 2021-2022 school year. The district broadcast the news via email. Short, currently as assistant principal, she has worked in Rye for nearly twenty years.

The full communication follows:

Dear RCSD Community,

Over the past few months, the District has been engaged in a comprehensive search process to find Rye High School’s next Principal. As is the case for all administrative searches, a search committee was formed comprised of High School faculty, students and parents, search professionals, and District administrators. The search response was more limited than we had hoped and the size of the resulting candidate pool was quite small. After interviewing candidates, the committee recommended that the District pause the search process for a permanent High School Principal and resume in the winter/early spring.

In the meantime, I am so pleased to share that Ms. Suzanne Short has agreed to serve as Interim Principal of Rye High School for the 2021-2022 school year, beginning on July 1. Ms. Short has served as one of RHS’s two Assistant Principals for the past seven years, is an outstanding leader, knows the school and community extremely well, and is fully prepared to lead the school for this interim time. In partnership with Dr. Zegarelli and an interim Assistant Principal who will be hired in the next few weeks, Ms. Short will bring deep knowledge of the Rye community to her new role. While Dr. Fitzgerald is not able to stay on full-time, he will continue to support RHS as a mentor to Ms. Short throughout the 2021-2022 school year.

Suzanne Short joined the District in 2002 as an English teacher in the High School. In 2013, she served as the Middle and High School English Department Chair. She was appointed Assistant Principal at the High School in 2014. Prior to coming to Rye, she taught at Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains.

Ms. Short has a BA in English – Secondary Education – from Fredonia State University, an MA in English Literature from Lehman College, and an advanced graduate certificate in Educational Leadership from SUNY Stony Brook.

In December, we will resume the search process for a permanent principal. Winter/early spring is typically the optimal time to launch a high school principal search. The search committee will reconvene and work with Dr. Brian Alm, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources and Leadership.

A heartfelt ‘thank you’ to all the committee members for their time and effort during the search process. The insights and feedback of the committee were invaluable.

Thank you also to Dr. Martin Fitzgerald for serving as Interim Principal this semester. His warm demeanor, instructional knowledge and leadership, strong communication skills, and wonderful sense of humor were vital during this challenging spring.

Please join me in congratulating Ms. Short on her appointment as Interim Principal of Rye High School.

Sincerely,

Eric Byrne, Ed.D.

Superintendent of Schools