Schools

West Bloomfield Administrator Named Pembroke Elementary Principal

Susan Crocker was hired last week week to replace Colette Ivey as the principal of Pembroke Elementary.

will have new leadership going into the 2011-12 school year.

The Birmingham Board of Education has hired Susan Crocker, former principal of Doherty Elementary in West Bloomfield, to replace Colete Ivey as principal of Pembroke Elementary.

According to deputy superintendent Paul DeAngelis, Crocker is excited to meet the rest of the Pembroke and Birmingham community.

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Crocker has spent past years in West Bloomfield and Birmingham, having served as a science and mathematics curriculum coordinator in West Bloomfield before moving into the principal position at Doherty. Before that, she taught 5th grade at Doherty and was the intern principal at the .

Crocker earned her bachelors degree from the University of Houston and her masters from Wayne State University.

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Though Crocker said though she will cherish the memories and friendships she's formed at West Bloomfield, she said the move to Birmingham was best for her family.

"(This move is) in keeping with my favorite quote (from Ben Sweetland), 'Success is a journey, not a destination,'" Crocker said.

Crocker will take over for outgoing principal Ivey, who announced her resignation at the beginning of June, saying she wanted to spend more time with her family.

“As the principal of Pembroke, I have had the joy of serving our community for the past three years,” Ivey said. “During this time I have come to love our school community and feel truly blessed to fulfill the important role of your principal on a daily basis. We have a very unique neighborhood school and I feel fortunate to be a part of the Pembroke family.”

According to DeAngelis, Superintendent David Larson met with several candidates for the position, eventually recommending Crocker to the school board last week. DeAngelis said the normal hiring process was a little different since school isn’t in session.

“Typically, we would take a team of teachers and parents on a site visit to confirm our findings with the person’s current school community,” DeAngelis said. “With school not in session, we were not able to do so.”

DeAngelis said the district will soon release a schedule of dates and times for when Crocker will be available to meet with Pembroke staff, students and parents.


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