The words “coming home” were the first used by newly hired, incoming Sippican Elementary School Principal Lynn Dessert.
Dessert has lived in Rochester for 34 years and conducted her student teaching at Rochester Memorial School. Around that time, she fell in love with the Tri-Towns of Rochester, Marion and Mattapoisett.
“I fell in love with the community and felt it was a community I wanted to be a part of,” Dessert said.
Dessert said she and her husband moved to Rochester shortly after her time as a student teacher, and they raised two children in Rochester. Her children went through the local school system, and she will likely have grandchildren passing through Sippican during her time there as principal.
Dessert has spent the last seven years as the Dighton Elementary School principal but wasn’t looking to move on.
“My teachers and I all learned and had grown together,” she said.
However, when the vacancy arose at Sippican, she couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to apply and interview there.
“The best time to go for a job is when you don’t need one – you’re relaxed,” she said of the process of applying for the Sippican role. “It felt like the right fit at the right moment. … The universe just aligned.”
Dessert said when her kids were young, she stayed at home and worked as a substitute teacher in the Tri-Towns and often volunteered for the local Girl Scouts, making her presence and leadership mark in the area before returning to education. Dessert later returned to education in New Bedford, climbing the ranks from a special education teacher, an after-school program director, a data specialist and then a principal.
During her 13 years in New Bedford, Dessert at first did not want to move into administration. But when she began handling dual roles in New Bedford as a teacher and a data analyst, a superintendent noticed her great leadership skills. She became a principal at a New Bedford elementary school before taking the job in Dighton.
Dessert said Dighton-Rehoboth’s district is similar to the Tri-Town community, and she looks forward to working with parents, staff and students at Sippican.
In fact, she says her initial plans are to listen to all stakeholders, build relationships and collaborate with teachers and the school community.
Dessert said the area schools are known for offering a challenging education, and she would like to build on that but also create a place where “all kids can excel.”
By Jeffrey D. Wagner