Mello leaving Rappahannock for Culpeper post
Roger Mello who served as principal of Rappahannock County high school since the summer of 2002 and recently stepped down as principal to become assistant principal will instead be leaving the Rappahannock school system this summer to become the “planning principal” for Culpeper’s new Eastern View High School. This school is under construction near the intersection of U.S. 29 and Route 666, east of Culpeper. It is not due to open until fall of 2008.
Mr. Mello, who lives in the Rixeyville area of Culpeper County, said he is interested “being a part of helping Culpeper figure out how they want to do high school with two schools.” Instead of Culpeper County’s single high school with 2,400 students, there will be two high schools each with about 1,200, he said, but Mr. Mello admitted with the development going on in Culpeper County both schools are likely to “grow pretty rapidly.”
He said the Rappahannock County School Board knew of his interest in the Culpeper job when they agreed to his request to be reassigned as assistant principal and assistant football coach, but Culpeper was taking a long time to decide. With his new job responsibilities he will not be working as an assistant football coach but says he wants to be involved and help out as a parent volunteer. His children will continue next year at Rappahannock County High School, John as a sophomore and Jennifer as an eighth grader. Mr. Mello expressed optimism about the football team’s prospects next year noting that 22 students are out for weight camp this week. He said he also expects an announcement about the head coaching position soon.
One of the positions Mr. Mello held before coming to Rappahannock involved the effort to launch Montecello High School in Albemarle County. Mr. Mello said issues in his personal life forced him to leave that position without seeing it through, and he has regretted that. Only an opportunity like this one to be in on the ground floor of launching a new high school in what is now his home county would cause him to leave, he said.
“I don’t expect to be happier there than here,” he said. “I hope I am as happy.”
He said he requested the transfer to have more time to finish work on his PhD and to have more time with his children, and this new job in Culpeper County in the year before the school opens will give him even more time for those things. In addition the pay is significantly higher- $90,000 compared to about $70,000.
He expects a lot of his time to be involved with the logistics of getting a new school ready to open in a year, assembling a team of teachers and making sure they have the books and equipment they need to do their jobs. Culpeper expects to basically split the school population along geographical lines with the new Eastern View High School taking some students from the town area and all the students from areas south of town, while Culpeper County High School has the students from the growing areas north and west of town and some in town. In the first year there will be a senior class as Mountain View, but Mr. Mello expects some students will choose to stay at Culpeper for their last year. He will wait to decide where his own children will attend school that year, the first when they will both be high-school aged.
In a press release Superintendent Bob Chappell said, “The School Board and I are very disappointed that we won’t have Roger on the RCHS leadership team as we move forward. We appreciate his five years of service. He has touched the lives of more than 1,000 Rappahannock students. We wish him success in starting the new school in Culpeper.”
by Sharon Kilpatrick
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