Dighton-Rehoboth Administrators Prepare for September

Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School will be welcoming students back on September 3 for the 2025-2026 year.

Principal Dustin Demers believes the high school is looking at “a lot of growth.”

“Last year we worked on our school improvement plan and had a visit from NEASC (New England Association of Schools and Colleges),” Demers said. “Both of those helped us determine where there’s room for improvement and things we’re doing right.”

Enrollment is up slightly over the previous school year, a trend Demers believes will continue as a result of staff visits to Beckwith and Dighton Middle Schools. An effort has been made by administrators to keep students from leaving the district.

“I think we’re going to start to see things turn around,” Demers noted.

Athletic Director Matt McKinnon has a tremendous pride in the high school’s offerings: “I think we really do a great job showcasing our student athletes and how they’re well-rounded members of the community. Some of them are at the top of their class. Our Valedictorian last year was Captain of the Field Hockey team.”

Assistant Principal Richard Dineen said the main goal for him is “to make sure the building is ready” for the first day of school.

“There’s always some apprehension from teachers and from students, getting them back into their rituals and routines, as always,” Dineen said.

Ashley Johnson is a new Assistant Principal at D-R. She had been a sixth grade teacher in Taunton before joining the district. Johnson also served as an administrator for an after-school program and recently completed her administrative training at John F. Parker School in Taunton.

Johnson was a CTE (Career and Technical Education) student. That experience “gave me a foot in the door for my military career. I was a mechanic so having that CTE component helped me with that.”

“I’m really excited to be in that setting again because it’s great for students to have that extra component to their school day other than just their academics.”

“Our programs are great because they’re small programs as far as student to teacher ratio,” said Michael Strojny, Director of CTE.

“We can give more personalized instruction,” Strojny continued. “We’re expanding our co-op opportunities for all students. We’re looking to expand our programs as well in the next couple of years. Our enrollment is going up.”

Strojny, a former automotive teacher at D-R, added the CTE program has been expanding since 2020 and there have been many “success stories” with students getting to work in specialty occupations such as automotive, engineering, and drafting and design.

Demers promises to share the school’s positive attributes with the community after a few years of turmoil. He pledges to bring stability.

“We’ve had a lot of changes in administration for many years. I plan on being here for a long time. I know my team does too,” he added.