Jefferson Village School’s new principal, Lynsey Ward. Ward was previously the principal of two Rockland schools: South Elementary School and Rockland District Middle School. (Alexander Violo photo)
Jefferson Village School has a new principal.
Lynsey Ward accepted the head job at Jefferson Village School following a summer-long search for the school’s principal. The Jefferson School Committee approved the hire Monday, Aug. 1 after a search committee recommended Ward.
Ward comes to JVS from Rockland, where she had been the principal of South Elementary School since November 2012. In addition to her duties at South Elementary School, Ward was also the principal of Rockland District Middle School in 2015-2016.
Ward takes over for Peter Gallace, who resigned in June to accept the position of curriculum coordinator at the Mid-Coast School of Technology in Rockland.
AOS 93 Superintendent Steve Bailey said Ward will start work the week of Aug. 8.
Bailey said a large pool of candidates applied for the head position at JVS, with upward of 14 applicants, a handful of which were interviewed by the search committee.
Bailey said he agreed with the search committee’s choice and was impressed with Ward’s experience.
“The strength of her experience and personality showed through during the interview process,” Bailey said.
Ward said she is excited to take on her new role.
“I’m looking forward to meeting the community and staff and working together to build what they are looking for in this school,” Ward said.
She said student progress and meeting standards are important to her and she is interested in listening to the community’s needs.
Ward said she feels her experience as a principal is important as she starts at JVS.
“I’ve been there,” Ward said. “I’ve dealt with building maintenance and have experience with interventions.”
School committee Chairman Al Vorhis spoke highly of the newly hired staff member.
“We went through a very long and arduous process for this and we are very pleased to have Lynsey here tonight and look forward to a long stay,” Vorhis said.
Vorhis thanked the search committee.
“It’s been busy but we got it done,” he said.
Other business
The school committee approved two additional personnel nominations: Arianne Edgar as a half-time social worker and Christopher Rowley, as a 0.7-time physical education teacher.
