New schools, new faces greet students and staff

Some have been greeted by new principals, while others find themselves in new or nearly new surroundings.

Students of Cashell Elementary School returned to the North Lake Center, a holding school located on Bauer Drive in Rockville, for one more year.

In January, students and staff said goodbye to the former Cashell building on Cashell Road in Derwood and began the second semester in the holding school.

Since that time, the old building was demolished and construction of the new school is under way, Cashell Principal Maureen Ahern-Stamoulis said.

"It's nice to already be settled into this building, but this time next year, we will be moving into our brand new building," she said. "I faithfully attend all the construction meetings, and I am assured that everything is on track."

Ahern-Stamoulis said builders are working on the new building's gymnasium.

"That is so exciting to see, since we never had a gym before," she said.

çEvery time I go by I see a little more that wasnêt there before, so it has been very exciting to see it literally rise up out of the ground," she added.

She said the second half of the last school year went very well in the holding school.

"It was a very productive year, and our students did extremely well on the Maryland State Assessments," Ahern-Stamoulis said. "We hope to continue that momentum."

She said the teachers and students are looking forward to another great year, and also to next August when they will return to their new "home."

A short distance away, the Hebrew Day Institute held its first day of school in its new Rockville location Monday.

The Jewish community day school moved from Wheaton over the summer and is now sharing space with Tikvat Israel on Baltimore Road.

In a previous interview with The Gazette, Michael Grossman, executive director of Tikvat Israel, said there are no plans to expand the building and Tikvat Israel and the Hebrew Day Institute would continue to exist as separate entities.

Tikvat Israel offers a preschool program and a supplemental religious school, while Hebrew Day Institute serves students in kindergarten through sixth grade.

New faces

Nelson McLeod II is beginning his first year as principal at Richard Montgomery High School.

The Board of Education named McLeod principal of the Rockville school on June 23. He had been principal of Newport Mill Middle School in Kensington since 2001.

McLeod replaces Moreno E. Carrasco, who now serves as the school system's director of secondary leadership training. Carrasco had been principal of the school since 2003.

‘‘I am very excited about my appointment to Richard Montgomery High School," McLeod wrote in an e-mail message to The Gazette in June.

Robert Sinclair Jr. has taken over the helm at Redland Middle School in Derwood.

Sinclair had been serving as the school's assistant principal since 2005. He was named principal by the Board of Education in May, replacing Carol A. Weiss, who retired from the school system after 21 years.

The 33-year-old Germantown resident said he and Redland's staff "hit the ground running this summer," discussing plans for the new school year and his vision for the school.

"Ms. Weiss left the school in great shape, but now it's about taking it to the next level and helping it continue to improve," Sinclair said.

He will also be overseeing a series of internal renovations on the school, which are slated to begin next July and be finished by August 2010.

"It's going to pose some challenges, but with some good planning and good communication I'm sure everything will go smoothly," Sinclair said.

Gail West takes over as the new principal at Brooke Grove Elementary School in Olney, but the Brookeville resident is no stranger to the Olney education community.

West, 52, began advocating for local education when she became active in the Greenwood Elementary School PTA. She was also involved in the Rosa Parks Middle School and Sherwood High School PTA before becoming a Sherwood Cluster coordinator, an opportunity which allowed her to lobby for all of the Olney-area schools, especially important during a controversial boundary change in the mid-1990s.

As her three daughters got older, she decided that becoming a principal was the perfect way to combine her leadership with her love of teaching, so she returned to school to get her administrative credentials.

West was appointed to fill the position in April and took over July 1.