Southington Hires New Principal, Assistant Principal In School System

SOUTHINGTON, CT — School is out for summer, but the school system is still busy preparing for the next school year.

At a special Southington Board of Education meeting Thursday, school officials appointed two new school building administrators to join the district for the new year.

According to Southington Superintendent of Schools Steven Madancy Friday, the board appointed:

• Rita H. Stearns to become the principal of Southington's South End Elementary School, 10 Maxwell Noble Drive, Plantsville.

In becoming the principal, Stearns is actually filling a familiar role, as she was appointed interim principal in January, Madancy said.

She has also been a school counselor at John F. Kennedy Middle School and Derynoski Elementary School, both in Southington.

Stearns has also taught at South End as well as Oshana Elementary School (formerly Plantsville Elementary School).

Madancy said she has a bachelor of science degree and teacher certification from Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven and a master’s degree and a sixth-year degree in educational leadership from Central Connecticut State University in New Britain.

• Simone M. Crouch was appointed assistant principal of Southington High School, Madancy said.

Like Stearns, Crouch is also losing the "interim" label on her most recent post, as she was named SHS' interim assistant principal since October 2022.

Madancy said Crouch has also served as the Southington Public Schools Multilingual Department Coordinator/TESOL Teacher beginning in February 2019.

Prior to coming to Southington, Madancy said Crouch was a teacher in the Wallingford school system.

Crouch has a bachelor of science degree from Wagner College in Staten Island, N.Y., and a master’s degree from SCSU.