Our Principals are dedicated leaders, and we’ll be introducing you over the coming days to Principals who are new to the role or who are serving at new schools this year. Please help us celebrate Cherokee High School’s new leader: Rodney Larrotta!
Cherokee High School’s new Principal not only is a very familiar face to the staff, but also to its students and families.
Principal Rodney Larrotta for the past four years served as Principal of Hasty Elementary School Fine Arts Academy, whose students later attend high school at Cherokee HS. He also previously worked at Cherokee HS as an assistant principal from 2013 through his appointment to lead Hasty.
“Rodney excels at connecting with his community, and is known for his great care for every student and every staff member and all of their families,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Brian V. Hightower said. “He understood and modeled best practices in family and community engagement and social and emotional learning before these ideas became standard in our profession’s vocabulary. As the CHS community loves to say -- Once a Warrior, Always a Warrior – and they are welcoming back one of the best.”
Principal Larrotta said he has set four goals for himself for the year: “Shape a vision of academic success for all students. Create a safe, nurturing and inclusive climate to education. Cultivate leadership in others. Improve school leadership.”
He joined CCSD in 2002 as a teacher at Woodstock HS after working as a classroom teacher in Florida, and has served as an adjunct instructor for the Georgia Department of Education’s Georgia Virtual School and for Kennesaw State University. A graduate of the Superintendent’s Leadership Academy, Principal Larrotta has earned a bachelor’s degree in foreign languages, master’s in education degree, specialist in educational leadership degree from Kennesaw State University, as well as a certificate in social and emotional learning from Rutgers University. He also is dad to two daughters: an Etowah HS sophomore and a Class of 2019 grad.
How can parents be more involved? “The most significant type of involvement is what parents do at home. By monitoring, supporting and advocating, parents can be engaged in ways that ensure that their children have every opportunity for success. Set goals with your children and foster achievement of those goals. Access and use your children’s academic scores to ensure they’re on track. Develop a relationship with your children’s teachers and keep in touch with them often.”
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