Saint John the Baptist Catholic School’s principal, Mitch Dorr, announced his resignation on April 27 in an email to parish and school families.
Dorr, who’s been at the school since 2021, is leaving for ROCORI High School in Cold Spring, Minnesota, to become its activities director. He’ll stay at Saint John’s through the end of the year and help with the leadership transition. Father Neil Bakker expressed his thanks to Dorr for his service to the school.
“I am so grateful for his ‘yes’ to SJB, his commitment to students and families and his leadership in continuing to build our amazing team, “ Bakker wrote in the email to the parish. “On a personal and professional level, I will miss him.”
Dorr, in the email, said that he and his family wanted to move closer to the Albany area to be closer to family. Albany is about 30 minutes northwest of St. Cloud and an hour and a half away from Jordan. He thanked Father Bakker and Saint John’s families for their support.
“This decision was very difficult and required weeks of prayer and discernment,” Dorr wrote in the email. “I have never worked with a finer group of people and we have the most amazing and supportive parents I have ever met.”
ROCORI High School, about 30 minutes to the southwest of St. Cloud, serves the cities of Rockville, Cold Spring and Richmond.
In a follow up email to parish families, Father Bakker wrote that the Archdiocese Office for the Mission of Catholic Education is assisting the school in the search for a new principal. At this time, a committee is being formed and updates will be continued to be provided.
According to the parish email, there have been 12 principalship turnovers throughout the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Archdiocese this year, about 15% of schools in the diocese.
