By Lisa Williams Ackley
Staff Writer

FRYEBURG — There will be a new principal greeting students at the front door of the Charles A. Snow School here, this fall.

Last week, the Board of Directors of School Administrative District 72 approved the recommendation of the Personnel Committee and Superintendent of Schools Gary MacDonald and named Emily Kirkpatrick as the new principal at Snow School.

She will take over the principal’s post at Snow School left vacant by the upcoming retirement of Jeannette Almy, who has been employed by SAD 72 for 33 years.

Kirkpatrick holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Boston University, a Master of Arts in Education from the University of San Francisco and a Master of Arts degree in Educational Administration from San Francisco State University.

The new SAD 72 administrator comes to Maine from Santa Rosa, California, where she has served as assistant principal at the Roseland Elementary School District since 2003, as well as its Summer School principal. Previously, Kirkpatrick was the Science Department chair for the San Mateo/Foster City School District in San Mateo, Calif., where she was also a grade 6 Earth Science teacher at Abbott Middle School, and a grade 1-2 and grade 1 teacher at Laurel Elementary School.

Kirkpatrick has completed 10 professional development opportunities and is a member of various associations and activities. She is a triathlete, girls’ basketball coach, a primary soccer coach, a swimming instructor and a school volunteer.

New teacher

The SAD 72 Board of Directors also approved the hiring of Pamela Watson as a kindergarten teacher at the Brownfield-Denmark School at their meeting on June 8, as Jan Gourley has announced her retirement.

Watson received a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education with a concentration in Social Science from the University of Maine at Farmington and earned a Master of Science degree in Education from the University of New England. She previously taught second grade for 11 years at the Baldwin Consolidated Elementary School in SAD 55, and was a grade 3 and grade 4 teacher, Ed Tech and substitute teacher at Quimby Elementary School in SAD 13.

Watson is a member of various associations and school committees and is an elementary girls’ basketball coach.

Resignations

Sue Thurston has resigned as Athletic Director at Molly Ockett Middle School. Danielle Gagnon tendered her resignation as a grade 1 teacher at the Brownfield- Denmark School.

Contracted teachers approved

The nominations of first and second-year contracted teachers were unanimously approved by the SAD 72 Board of Directors on June 8. Plan approved Word has been received that the Maine Department of Education has approved SAD 72’s three-year Technology Plan.