Bordieri lands assistant principal job at Davies Tech

LINCOLN – With the departures of longtime educator and assistant principal David Champagne and teacher/supervisor of academic instruction Janine Napolitano from the William M. Davies Career & Technical High School lineup, the Board of Directors has decided to redefine the roles of their vice principals and their tasks.

According to Director Mary Watkins, Davies is halfway there with the hire of Brian Bordieri, who says he will eventually act as the assistant principal of discipline and also for the freshman and junior classes.

“I keep trying to be conservative about me coming here, but I keep telling everybody in my family and elsewhere that I’m just so excited to be here,” said Bordieri, who has local ties to the Blackstone Valley as he graduated from Mount St. Charles Academy in 1995. “This is something I’ve been looking for for a very long time.

“There were times when I wish I had come here earlier, but at the same time I’m more than happy to bring the skills I learned

elsewhere to make a difference here at Davies.”

Watkins called Bordieri a most welcome addition to her administration, which includes Principal Jose Libano. The plan is to hire another assistant principal to join Bordieri in the coming weeks.

“As Davies’ first hire within our new, dual assistant principal model, Brian brings enthusiasm and a new perspective to the table,” she said. “Already, he’s actively getting to know students and jumping in to assist with whatever tasks need to get done.

“His experience as an assistant principal and, most importantly, as an AP within a career and technical setting is apparent. We’re thrilled to have Brian join the Davies’ admin team.”

Bordieri brings a wealth of experience with him to the Davies’ campus. Following his graduation at the Mount, he chose to continue his academic career at Rhode Island College; that’s where he earned a Bachelor’s of Psychology in 2000. He later gleaned a Master’s of Education and Administration for Providence College.

Upon his matriculation from RIC in 2000, he began teaching history at the small NAFI Alternatives School on the Butler Hospital campus (though there’s no affiliation between the two). He spent two years in that role, then shifted into teaching what he called “more multi-disciplinary thematic units, which is a long way of saying I taught more subjects than just history. Then I became the principal there.”

In 2011, he moved on to The Met School, which he called a unique educational institution.

“I was more focused on student-designed projects and real-world learning,” he said. “I would set them up with internships, where all of their schoolwork was focused on solving problems at their internships. I did that for 10 years, and – in 2021 – I shifted to Johnston High School as an assistant principal, but only for about six months. I went to the Providence Career & Technical Academy in October of ’21, and I started here on Sept. 2.

“Right now, we’re still redefining my role, and it’s not just assistant principal of discipline; I know I will have the ninth and 11th grades, though we have not determined the other scopes of my responsibilities. We’ll soon be hiring another assistant principal and then we’ll be splitting up the duties, I believe.”

When asked why he applied for the job in the first place, what intrigued him about it, he was most forthcoming.

“When I was at The Met, which is the only other single-school district in the state of Rhode Island besides Davies, I was really able to connect with students and develop some really interesting and complex student projects that would benefit them at their internships,” he said. “And when I was at PCTA, I was able to gain a better appreciation for career and technical education.

“I’d like to think of it as all of those internships are happening in the school themselves, and that allowed for a different kind of deep learning where students were able to get their hands on, say, these welding tools and go at it. They were able to do all this hands-on work without leaving the school and go out on those internships.

“What I missed about The Met was that we were our own district; we were able to make decisions more efficiently. We were able to put kids first and keep them at the forefront of every decision we made.

“At Davies, it’s like this ‘Goldilocks’ zone; it combines both of those things,” he continued. “All of the people that I need to solve a problem surrounding one student are right here; we can all sit at one table, put our resources on that table and figure out a way to move forward for the betterment of the students.

“And we still have all of these great, hands-on opportunities happening right at the students’ fingertips. I’ve got the best of both worlds right here at Davies. I think my job will be focusing a lot on climate and culture, safety within the school, but also supporting teachers and connecting them with parents and students where I can.”

He also indicated he already knew one thing about Davies, and that’s teachers and administrators remain at that institution on Jenckes Hill Road for a long time.

“I have to say that this is not the first position I have applied for at Davies, but this is the role the Davies’ team felt I would be best suited to do,” he said. “So far, I agree. I really am a ‘Kids first’ leader; I really like to be connected to and interacting with students as much as possible, so I think I’ll be doing more of that in this role.

“I can’t wait.”