Geomari Fermin, an educator with over 10 years of experience, is the new assistant principal at Dutchess BOCES’ Resilience Academy.
The Board of Education approved Fermin’s hiring at its April 9 meeting and she started work in July getting acquainted with the school and assisting Salt Point Center Principal Melissa Murphy with the Extended School Year program.
Most recently, Fermin was high school director of student services and support at the LION Charter School in the Bronx where she advocated for English language learners and students with disabilities. She also spent four years as a social worker helping displaced and homeless men. Her goals include collaborating with teachers and other administrators, continuing to innovate education with technology and getting to know students, as they build self-agency and self-advocacy, and their parents.
“It is extremely important for me that I partner with our parents to help the education journey of our students,” Fermin said. “I’m big on treating students respectfully because they are young adults, who soon enough, will be in the workforce.”
Fermin wanted to be an educator since fifth grade and credits teachers who helped her become proficient in English after emigrating to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic for her desire to be that person for others. Her decision was cemented after working at a volunteer program in Ecuador, where she recruited kids to attend a local middle school and teach them English. “That gave me the initial sense of what it felt like to work in education with an underserved population,” Fermin recalled of her volunteer experience. “I had teachers who advocated for me, and that initially was what drove me into going into education, wanting to be that same person for someone else.”
Fermin hopes students can look up to her and realize they can make changes in their lives.
“I do hope to be someone that students can see themselves in,” Fermin said. “I’m here to support their developmental stages and hopefully help them become great citizens.”
Fermin holds a master’s in education, specializing in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages K-12 and earned a post graduate building leader certificate from City College of New York and a post graduate certificate in special education from Lehman College. Outside of work, Fermin enjoys spending time with her family, running and reading. Her favorite book is Gabriel García Márquez’s “One Hundred Years of Solitude.”
“I’ve read it at least 10 times … every time I read it I feel like I find something new in it,” Fermin said of the book. “It’s very telling of the way that stories are told in Latin American literature.”