Seekonk Launches Search for New School Superintendent

The Seekonk School Committee voted Monday to accept the resignation of Superintendent Rich Drolet. Drolet is departing at the end of June to lead the King Philip Regional School District in Norfolk.

“I feel it’s a huge loss to Seekonk and I’m sad to see him go,” committee chair Erin Brouillette said.

The committee voted to hire an outside firm to conduct a search for Drolet’s replacement. Members of the public will be recruited to review applications and conduct interviews for the finalists.

“I think time is of the essence,” Brouillette said of the process to replace Drolet. Drolet has been serving as Superintendent since 2018. Before coming to Seekonk, Drolet served as the Director of Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment and Accountability for the Uxbridge Public Schools.

The last several months have been turbulent for Drolet and the school district. Last October, Drolet issued a No Trespass Order to Luis Sousa, a parent of two students at Aitken Elementary School, as a result of incidents at two school committee meetings. Sousa filed a lawsuit October 20 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The complaint alleged Drolet and the members of the school committee committed violations of Sousa’s rights under the first and fourteenth amendments, pertaining to free speech and equal protection, along with the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). Sousa claims he suffers from bipolar disorder.