Ossining School District to Appoint Bedford Educator as Roosevelt School Principal

After conducting a rigorous search, the Ossining Board of Education plans to appoint a longtime Bedford Central School District educator early next month as the new principal of Roosevelt School.

Michelle Grier, Bedford’s math department coordinator for grades 6-12, will replace Principal Stephen Hancock July 1. Mr. Hancock will take over as principal of Ossining High School as current leader Joshua Mandel retires.

Superintendent Raymond Sanchez said Ms. Grier’s teaching and educational leadership experience make her a great fit as principal of Roosevelt School, which has about 365 fifth-grade students. An educator since 2002, she has four master’s degrees, including one in school district leadership and another in secondary mathematics education.

“The Ossining School District is excited to welcome such an experienced and talented educator as principal of Roosevelt School,” Mr. Sanchez said. “I am confident that our students and staff members will flourish under her leadership.”

Ms. Grier said she is excited to join the Ossining School District and meet the children and staff at Roosevelt School and their families. She believes strongly in the power of education and cited a famous Nelson Mandela quote that illustrates this: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

As math department coordinator in Bedford, Ms. Grier’s responsibilities include developing curriculum; using assessment results to identify students’ strengths and weaknesses; creating course and teacher schedules; and serving as an instructional leader.

Ms. Grier was hired by the Bedford School District in 2004 as a special education math teacher at Fox Lane Middle School. She subsequently held positions as a math teacher, math liaison and classroom coach at the middle school until accepting the math department coordinator job in 2011. Before working for the Bedford school system, she was a seventh- and eighth-grade math teacher for about two years at the Jonas Bronck Academy, a public school in the Bronx.

Prior to becoming a teacher, Ms. Grier spent 10 years at The Document Company Xerox in New York City and Rochester.

Ms. Grier earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Pennsylvania State University and a master’s of science in manufacturing systems engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. She received a master’s in business administration in finance, marketing and competitive and organizational strategy from the University of Rochester Simon Business School.

She earned two advanced degrees in the education field: a master’s in secondary mathematics education from the City University of New York in 2004 and a master’s in school district leadership in 2015 from Bank Street College in New York City.