Jon Hopkins, former dean of academics at Ben Franklin Intermediate was appointed as Fernando Rivera’s new vice principal following the departure of Brian Bethel.

How long have you worked in this district?

I have worked in this district for 15 years.

What do you like about Fernando Rivera and would you change anything?

The thing I really like about Fernando is the students. I think the students here are just like, for the most part, super kind kids. They have a really nice community here. I can tell everybody cares about our school and they want to do well. So that’s my favorite part about Fernando. Anything I would change? I would definitely change a couple of the behaviors I’ve been seeing, right? Like, you know, just making sure we’re being kind to everybody and that we are, you know, respecting other people’s empathy. That’s kind of an issue right there. 

Have you worked at any different schools, if so, what are they?

Yeah, I worked at Daniel Webster Elementary. I was a teacher there. And then I worked at Ben Franklin. I was the dean of academics there.

What do you like about being the vice principal at FRS?

I like that I get to have a lot of conversations with the students. I like supporting the staff. And I really like working with Melissa.

How does your past school experience differ from this school, for example do you have more responsibilities as a vice principal?

Yeah, I think I definitely have more responsibilities as vice principal. But other than that, it’s pretty similar to my role last year. But my role last year was focusing more on academics. And then this year I’m focusing more on our culture and community.