FALL RIVER — The Superintendent and Director of the Greater Fall River Vocational School District is departing this fall, capping off 13 years at Diman Regional Vocational Technical High School including three as superintendent.
“There’s a lot I’m going to miss,” said Dr. Elvio Ferreira. “It’s a very special place.”
Ferreira started at Diman in 2009 as the dean of students. He worked as the school’s academic coordinator, then vocational coordinator, then principal. He has been in education since 2000 and previously worked in Somerset, New Bedford and the Dighton-Rehoboth School District.
He is about halfway through a six-year contract he signed with the district in 2019. But, the contract included the ability for him to resign as long as he gives 90 days notice.
His departure comes as the district works its way through the process of constructing a new school building. Construction is planned to begin as early as next spring.
“It definitely weighed into my decision,” Ferreira said. “I didn’t want to do anything that would jeopardize the project moving forward.”
Plans for the new building have been in the works for 10 years already. But now that each of the school’s sending communities have independently signed off on the project and the Massachusetts School Building Authority has agreed to reimburse a significant portion of the cost, the project is sure to move forward with or without him, Ferreira said. And, he’s offered to work with whoever steps into the superintendent job next to get them up to speed on the project.
“This felt like a pretty good time to make the change,” he said.
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Ferreira has another job lined up, and not as the superintendent of another district. This September, he plans to start as the director of Career and Technical Education for Brockton Public Schools.
He said he specifically chose a new job that will give him opportunities to get back to working directly with students in the classroom. Superintendents deal largely with school policy and administration, he pointed out. Now, he’ll work with students, along with working with school staff on things like curricula and coordinating with the state to make sure the CTE program aligns with state frameworks.
“It is a teaching, union position,” he said. “It’s much more my wheelhouse and the rationale for why I got into education in the first place.”
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Ferreira said he didn’t know a lot about technical education when he started at Diman 13 years ago, but has since become an enthusiastic proponent of the model.
“It really is a system that really appreciates and understands and gives students the opportunity to succeed in a non-traditional manner,” he said. “Now I’m taking that knowledge to Brockton.”
Audrey Cooney can be reached at acooney@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News today.