NEW: 24 Palm Beach County schools will get new principals this year. Check out the list
Editor's note: This story was updated Aug. 5 with the names of three principals approved by the school board Aug. 3.
PALM BEACH COUNTY — At least 24 schools in the Palm Beach County School District will have new leaders at the helm as classes begin on Aug. 10.
Palm Beach Gardens, Lake Worth and Seminole Ridge are among the high schools that will have new principals on campus, alongside 11 elementary schools and 10 middle schools.
The school board began appointing new principals in January and appointed its largest crop of new principals on Wednesday.
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The number of changes in principals at the beginning of a school year is historically between 10 and 20 across more than 180 Palm Beach County district-operated schools. Leadership changes are driven by a host of personnel matters, including retirements, promotions and departures for other positions.
All but one of the educators named to principal positions for the 2022-23 school year come from within the district.
The upshot
Here are the new principals approved in the past six months. If they haven't already, they will meet students on their new campuses for the first time at the start of the school year:
Calusa Elementary - Susan Figueroa
Christa McAuliffe Middle - Dwight Graydon
Conniston Middle - James Thomas
Crystal Lakes Elementary - Sheena Blue
Eagles Landing Middle - Dominick Rizzatti
Grassy Waters Elementary - Sean Higgins
H.L. Watkins Middle - Presley Charles
Highland Elementary - Frances Frye
Independence Middle - Amber Saunders
Jupiter Elementary - Gloria Salazar
L.C. Swain Middle - Isha Reyes
Lighthouse Elementary - Nina Montez
Lake Park Elementary - Carlos Castro
Lake Worth High - Elena Villani
Morikami Park Elementary - Stephanie Coletto
Palm Beach Gardens High - Jay Blavatt
Polo Park Middle - Jennifer Galindo
Sandpiper Shores Elementary - Monique Coyle
Seminole Ridge High - Robert Hatcher
The Conservatory School - Derek Schuemann
Tradewinds Middle - Shakeica Robinson
U.B. Kinsey/Palmview Elementary School of the Arts - Alexander Bremby
Waters Edge Elementary - Christopher Schroeder
Western Pines Middle - Philip Preddy
About the new high school principals
Blavatt, who has served as the principal at South Fork High School in Stuart since 2017, will make the move south to replace Don Hoffman at Palm Beach Gardens High, according to the district's July personnel report approved. Hoffman has not publicly announced his departure from the high school, and he did not return a request for comment.
Villani will move into the principalship at Lake Worth High, replacing Elvis Epps. Epps announced July 1 on Twitter that he would be retiring from the school system to work as a professional leadership coach.
Villani comes to the position after serving as Highland Elementary's principal since 2018. She previously worked as an assistant principal at Palm Beach Lakes High from 2015 to 2018.
Hatcher was approved by the board in March to become the principal at Seminole Ridge High in Westlake. He comes from 13 years in the principalship at Western Pines Middle and replaces Seminole Ridge principal James Campbell, who became the director of construction for the district.
About the new middle school principals
At the middle school level, Thomas will take over as principal at Conniston Middle in West Palm Beach. He comes to the school after serving as the principal at Greenacres' L.C. Swain Middle since 2012.
Thomas' role as principal at L.C. Swain will be filled by Reyes, who moves from her role as assistant principal at John I. Leonard High, also in Greenacres.
Galindo will move to the principalship at Wellington's Polo Park Middle from her role as principal at West Palm Beach's Grassy Waters Elementary, which she has held since 2014.
In Boynton Beach, Graydon will begin as principal at Christa McAuliffe Middle this school year. He comes to the job after serving as assistant principal at Riviera Beach's John F. Kennedy Middle School since 2018.
Farther south, Rizzatti will take the reins as principal at Eagles Landing Middle in Boca Raton. He comes to the office after serving as Coral Reef Elementary's interim principal from September to January. Since January, Rizzatti has worked on the south regional office's instructional support team.
In April, the board approved Preddy as the new principal for Western Pines Middle near The Acreage. Preddy formerly worked as the principal at Lake Park Elementary for two years.
In Jupiter, the board voted to install Saunders as principal at Independence Middle in March. Saunders had worked as an assistant principal at Jupiter High since 2016.
In January, the board approved a move by Charles from his position as manager of human resources to the principalship at H.L. Watkins Middle in central Palm Beach Gardens. He previously worked as an assistant principal at Boynton Beach High from 2017 to 2019.
At the same meeting, the board installed Robinson as principal at Tradewinds Middle in Greenacres and Schuemann as principal at The Conservatory School in North Palm Beach. Robinson comes from seven years as an assistant principal at Santaluces High in Lantana, and Schuemann has been an assistant principal at The Conservatory School since 2015.
About the new elementary school principals
On Wednesday, the school board approved Higgins to the principalship at Grassy Waters Elementary in West Palm Beach. He previously worked as an assistant principal at Forest Hill Elementary for 14 years.
The board also named Coyle principal at Boca Raton's Sandpiper Shores Elementary. Coyle has been an assistant principal at Boca Raton Elementary since 2017.
Montez was also approved Wednesday to be principal at Lighthouse Elementary in Jupiter. She previously worked for five years as an assistant principal at Acreage Pines Elementary in Loxahatchee.
At Highland Elementary in Lake Worth Beach, Frye will take over as principal as Villani moves to Lake Worth High. Frye has been an assistant principal at Highland since 2017.
Blue will move to principal at Boynton Beach's Crystal Lakes Elementary. She previously worked for one year as an assistant principal at Lantana Elementary.
Coletto will become the principal at Morikami Park Elementary in Delray Beach after serving as principal at Sandpiper Shores Elementary in Boca Raton since 2014.
At Calusa Elementary in Boca Raton, Figueroa will become principal after working as an assistant principal at Del Prado Elementary, also in Boca Raton, since 2018.
And Schroeder will become principal at Waters Edge Elementary, west of Boca Raton. He comes to the job after two years as assistant principal at Hidden Oaks K-8 school in the Lake Worth area.
In June, the board approved Salazar as Jupiter Elementary's new principal. She has served as the school's assistant principal since December 2020.
In May, the board named Castro the principal of Lake Park Elementary, where he takes over for Preddy. Castro has worked as an assistant principal at Cholee Lake Elementary in Greenacres since 2015.
In January, the board named Bremby principal of U.B. Kinsey/Palmview Elementary School of the Arts in central West Palm Beach. He has served as an assistant principal at the school since 2004.
Katherine Kokal is a journalist covering education at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at kkokal@pbpost.com. Help support our work, subscribe today!
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: New principals at Palm Beach County schools for 2022-23 school year
