The new principal at the Thompson School, starting July 1, will be Karen Donato, now the assistant principal of the Center School in Stow, a position she has held since 2011.
Superintendent Kathleen Bodie announced Thursday, May 1, that Donato has accepted the Thompson job.
The search for a new principal got underway earlier this year after Sheri Donovan announced she would be leaving after seven years.
The Stow school, which opened as a new school in September 2012, has 600 students from prekindergarten to grade five in the Nashoba Regional School District. The new Thompson opened last September.
Donovan was named Thompson principal in 2007. During her principalship, the $20 million rebuilt Thompson opened. Before it did, she served as principal of Thompson and Stratton, before Michael Hanna was hired.
Before the opening of the new school in Stow, Donato oversaw the daily operations of both the grades K-3 and 4-5 facilities that were combined in the new building.
She also served in the Andover public schools as a special-education teacher at the Wood Hill Middle School and then as a learning specialist at the South Elementary School.
Before Andover, she was a special-education inclusion kindergarten teacher and K-2 functional life skills teacher in the Medford public schools.
She received a bachelor of arts in elementary and special education from Providence College, a master of education from Cambridge College and a certificate of advanced graduate studies from Salem State College.
“We are very happy to welcome Ms. Donato to the Arlington public schools,” Bodie wrote in a news release. “Her experience in educational leadership, special education, and teaching, as well as the opening of a new school, has prepared her well to be the leader of Thompson’s dynamic educational community.”
In an email to the Thompson community May 1, Bodie wrote:
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Sheri Donovan for her outstanding leadership these last seven years.
“Ms. Donovan will work with Ms. Donato over the next few months to ensure a smooth transition.”
She also thanked the search committee, composed of Elaine Shea, Lauren Ledger, Sarah Stockwell and Harriet Vanderput.
She wrote to Thompson parents and guardians on Friday, April 25, that she had hoped to make a decision before school vacation week among three finalists, but “it was not possible to schedule the site visits at the candidates’ schools before vacation. I plan to make a decision next week.”
The finalists were announced April 3.
Each candidate met with teachers, staff and administrators during the week of April 7. Parents and community members met with the candidates on April 9, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Thompson school library. The schedule was:
6:30 – 7:00 James Stoddard
7:15 – 7:45 Michele Zottoli
8:00 – 8:30 Donato
Stoddard is the vice principal of the Runkle School in Brookline, a position he has held since 2008. Beforethis position, Stoddard was a mathematics teacher at the Baker School in Brookline. He also has experience teaching mathematics for grades 4 through 8 at the Fenn School in Concord, and at the St. Andrews School in Barrington, R.I., as well as directing summer mathematics camps.
He received a B.A. in psychology from Brown University, a master of education from Lesley University and a certificate of advanced graduate studies from Simmons College.
Zottoli is the principal at the Wyman Elementary School in Woburn. She began this position in 2011, after serving for several years as an assistant principal in the Lexington public schools. Before becoming an assistant principal, Zottoli was an elementary teacher and a reading teacher in Lexington. She began her teaching career in Sacramento, Calif.
She received a B.S. in finance from Bryant College, a master of education from Sacred Heart University, a certificate of advanced graduate studies from UMass. Lowell and a certificate of advanced graduate studies from the MGH Institute of Health Professions.
This story was published Sunday, March 2, 2014, and updated May 1.
