Meet Demario Strickland, Rochester’s New Interim Superintendent of Schools

A new leader took office at the Rochester City School District this week.

The district has long struggled with a succession of superintendents. Over the past five years, four superintendents have led the district.

New interim Superintendent DeMario Strickland took over after serving as assistant superintendent of teaching and learning under his predecessor, Carmine Peluso, who begins his new role as superintendent of Churchville-Chili schools this week.

Strickland was a former school superintendent in the district. He also served as superintendent and assistant superintendent of the Buffalo City School District and as dean of students in the New York City Department of Education.

WXXI Education Reporter Noelle Evans takes us to the central office where Interim Superintendent Demario Strickland says he’s taking charge of bringing more stability to the district.

The following is a transcript of an abridged interview that has been edited for time and clarity.

EVANS: Is this something you volunteered for or were you chosen?

DEMARIO STRICKLAND: So the board of education was going to go with an external candidate. But I guess it didn’t work out. I remember going to Wegmans to get groceries and coming home and being asked to get on a Zoom call. I was asked if I wanted to do that. And I said, “I will do absolutely anything to stabilize the district or keep things as stable as possible.”

EVANS: So they chose you.

STRICKLAND: Yes, they chose me.

EVANS: What are, I mean, if you’re thinking proactively, what are the areas that you hope to address head on?

STRICKLAND: We need to make sure that schools are ready to serve our students and our families, providing a welcoming and nurturing environment so that in September, our staff are ready to go back to work and our students are ready to go back to work. Our families won’t have to worry about whether the classrooms are set up properly. That’s my primary focus because our families have been so disrupted.

EVANS: You mentioned that you had a meeting today about the cabinet. Are you considering making any changes to the cabinet?

STRICKLAND: So right now, the priority that I really want to give to our ninth graders would be to appoint a high school principal who will become the head of school and who will oversee our high schools. We have a brand new high school opening in the fall.

EVANS: Among the other districts you’ve worked for, is there anything in particular that stands out to you about RCSD?

STRICKLAND: I think there’s so much potential, so much activism and pride in Rochester. And it exists in Buffalo, it exists in New York, you know, very culturally in New York. But there’s something that really stands out here. The one thing you can see is that things are not stable here. So in order to elevate what needs to happen on the outside, you have to bring some things together on the inside. And that will help elevate students so that they can go out and do this crazy, strong advocacy. And I just want to see that for kids. I really do. I’m very serious about it. And that’s something that’s very compelling for me to just be a part of.

When you talk about the great people that lived here, Frederick Douglass, for God’s sake, Susan B. Anthony, just think about the work and the imprint that they left on America. And then we’re in a struggling school system, you know, the opposite of what they were fighting for. We have work to do here and we have the people who can do it here because, guess what, we have a good foundation here and I just want that to be really ingrained in the culture of our buildings and things of that nature.