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Doris Person takes top spot at Rehoboth Elementary

Former assistant principal takes on principal role
July 2, 2020

Longtime Cape district educator Doris Person has been promoted to principal at Rehoboth Elementary.

“It’s a great school with a culture of distinction and success,” Person said. “We’ll continue to build on that success, and help our students and staff grow.”

Person began her career as an English literature teacher at Cape High in 1991. When Lewes Junior High, as it was then known, became overcrowded the following year, she was asked to teach there for a year or two.

Instead, she taught there for 18 years, and helped transform the school from a junior high to a middle school, a change in concept that created a team approach to teaching comprising all content areas, rather than compartmentalized content instruction.

“It was a big transition,” she said. “Teachers in all four subjects would work and meet as a team to discuss all needs of each child, together.”

In 2001, she was named Lewes Middle School Teacher of the Year. She continued teaching at the new Beacon Middle School when it opened in 2003, and in 2010, she was named assistant principal at Rehoboth Elementary.

“I loved teaching, but once I got my doctorate, I decided to move into administration,” she said.

Person had served in leadership roles as Cape Henlopen Education Association building representative and on the district curriculum team, and said she wanted the opportunity to help bridge the gap between school and home in a positive school climate.

“I’ve taught so long, some of my students at Rehoboth are children of my former students,” she said.

Person is state president of Delta Kappa Gamma, a professional honorary society of women educators, and former president of the Sussex County Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta public service organization. She is a Sunshine Circle Club member and received the Education Award at the 28th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. banquet in January.

A North Carolina native, she earned her bachelor’s degree at North Carolina A&T State University, her master’s in education studies and journalism from Ohio State University, and her doctorate in education focusing on after-school programs from Wilmington University. 

Person worked at Burton Village’s after-school program for 12 years, and said her first-year students just graduated from college.

“That was my passion, because I felt we were doing great work for the community, and I wanted to have it documented,” she said.

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