Betsy Ross students can expect a new principal for the second time in as many years this fall.

The Board of Education this week named Dr. Roger Bayersdorfer as interim principal of the elementary school. Bayersdorfer will take over for Christine Zimmermann, who moved to the school last year after Catherine Bennett reired. Zimmermann was promoted to the newly created district-wide Director of Curriculum position earlier this year.

According to Assistant Superintendent Janet Donohue, Bayersdorfer comes back to Mahwah after beginning his career in the district as a teacher at Ramapo Ridge. He went on to become a “distinguished elementary principal,” and Superintendent in the River Edge and Franklin Lakes school districts, she said.

Bayersdorfer has been getting ready for his new gig by shadowing Zimmermann, who has been working to transition the school over to new leadership over the summer. “He is so enthusiastic,” Zimmermann said. “It’s hard for me to leave, [but] I am very comfortable leaving the school in his capable hands. I think it’s going to be a great year at Betsy Ross.”

The board hired the interim for a one-year term in order to have time to carry out a proper search for a permanent replacement, Donohue said. The selection process, she said, would be more effective during the school year than beginning at the end of last school year, when Zimmermann was promoted.

“We want to take our time to advertise the job opening, we don’t want to rush it,” she said. The permanent principal should be in place by July 1, 2013.

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