SNOW HILL – Leadership changes at a number of local schools highlighted Tuesday’s meeting of the Worcester County Board of Education.
Officials announced that effective July 1, Pocomoke High School Principal Annette Wallace would take over as the school’s system’s chief operating officer while Steve Price, who currently holds that position, will become the county’s assistant superintendent/chief safety officer, a new position dedicated to the school system’s safety and security practices.
Stephen Decatur High School Principal Tom Zimmer will be leaving the north end school to take over leadership at Worcester Technical High School, as Principal Caroline Bloxom is retiring after nearly 30 years in education.
Thomas Sites, current principal at Berlin Intermediate School, will become principal at Stephen Decatur High School, where he previously served as assistant principal from 2006 to 2012.
Ryan Cowder, an assistant principal at Stephen Decatur High School, will replace Sites at Berlin Intermediate. Jenifer Rayne, assistant principal at Pocomoke High School, will take over the role as principal of Pocomoke High following Wallace’s move to the central office.
Other changes at the central office include the appointment of Jennifer Sills to coordinator of instruction for science. Sills, a library media specialist at Snow Hill High School, will take over for Marlyn Barrett, who is retiring. In addition, Dwayne Abt, who previously worked for the Dorchester County Public School System, has been chosen to serve as supervisor of human resources for the school system.
Other changes at the assistant principal level were also announced Tuesday:
Pocomoke Middle School Assistant Principal Bryan Perry will move to Pocomoke High School, filling the vacancy left by Rayne’s promotion.
Pocomoke Middle School Assistant Principal Faye Williams will transfer to Pocomoke Elementary School.
Pocomoke Elementary School teacher Robert Boyce will become an assistant principal at Pocomoke Middle School along with Melissa Friestat, who has been serving as assistant principal at Pocomoke Elementary.
Newcomer Curtis Bunting, previously of the Sussex Technical School District, will become assistant principal at Stephen Decatur High School, filling the vacancy left by Cowder’s promotion.
Snow Hill Elementary School Assistant Principal David Gell will transfer to Berlin Intermediate School.
Karen Baker, the county’s current research, accountability and testing coordinator, will assume the role of assistant principal at Snow Hill Elementary School.
Superintendent Lou Taylor expressed his appreciation for those willing to transition to new roles.
“This is quite a change for Worcester County Public Schools,” he said. “We don’t usually go to the depth of this…I think it’s going to serve our kids extremely well and that’s what our focus is.”
