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‘‘I think we’re really going to miss her,” said Kay Hayes, assistant principal at Linton Springs, of Bunker. ‘‘She’s really been Linton Springs to a lot of people.”

‘‘She really enjoyed being with us and [she is] looking to a new experience and sharing what she knows about education,” said Hayes. ‘‘Our loss is their gain.”

Hayes, who was a teacher at Mount Airy Elementary for 20 years, said with Bunker, ‘‘[you] always feel like you’re listened to.”

Bunker joined the Mount Airy staff in July and is meeting with the school community in informal sessions prior to the first day of classes on Aug. 27.

‘‘We’re not always going to agree on the decisions I make,” Bunker warned a small gathering of parents on Monday at a PTA-hosted session to meet her.

However, ‘‘we can talk about things and that’s what’s important.”

Bunker said she will encourage communication from parents. ‘‘I have an open-door policy.”

‘‘I believe strongly that I’m here for students first, and I’m here for teachers; but I’m also here for parents,” she said.

Most of Bunker’s teaching experience has been in Carroll County schools. She was a special education resource teacher at Winfield Elementary School and an assistant principal at Robert Moton Elementary School in Westminster. She also taught for five years in Baltimore County.

Bunker was on the development committee for Parr’s Ridge Elementary School, the county’s only primary school that houses kindergarten through second grades, and said she wants to maintain a relationship with its principal, Ann Blonkowski.

As administrators in the county, the two have interacted at meetings and professional development study groups, Blonkowski said. ‘‘I look forward to continuing to build on the relationship between the two schools.”

Bunker said she plans on working with her so students will have a smooth transition to Mount Airy Elementary for grades three through five.

She said she has also been in touch with Virginia Savell, principal at Mount Airy Middle School, to create continuity between the elementary and middle schools, all of which sit in close proximity to one another in a campus setting.

Bunker shared a few ideas about what she would like to see at the school.

‘‘I would love to do after-school activities.” She said a book club is a possibility as well as a reading with the principal program at Mount Airy Elementary and with second-graders at Parr’s Ridge.

‘‘It builds up a sense of community,” she said of participation in clubs.

Blonkowski said she has already talked with Bunker, adding she thought that the principal reading program could be a positive ‘‘She’s got wonderful ideas.”

Bunker has lived in different parts of the world, including in California, where she is originally from, Arizona, Guam and Europe and has attended eight schools. She said she knew she was going to go into education but thought she would be a home economics teacher. After spending time working with autistic children at a hospital in California, she decided she wanted to work with children with disabilities.

Presently, Bunker is still learning her way around Mount Airy Elementary School.

‘‘I am overwhelmed, because I was at a school for seven years and had things running like clockwork and now when I go to do something, I have to ask.”

She said she also wasn’t used to having as many teachers in one grade. There are eight fifth-grade teachers, and a future class is expected to have nine teachers for its grade level.

‘‘I need to jump in,” she said. ‘‘What I’m looking forward to is having kids in the school.”

Meet the Principal

Parents can meet Principal Deborah Bunker from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Aug. 14 at the school, 405 N. Main St.

Mount Airy and Parr’s Ridge elementary school families can also attend a ‘‘Popsicles with the New Principal” event from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Aug. 21 also at the school.