Schools in the Diocese of Charleston will have nine new, or at least sort-of-new, faces in the top spot for the 2017-18 school year.
Divine Redeemer in Hanahan, Our Lady of Peace in North Augusta, Our Lady of the Rosary in Greenville, Prince of Peace in Taylors, St. Anthony of Padua in Greenville, St. John Neumann in Columbia, St. Mary in Greenville, St. Michael in Murrells Inlet, and Summerville Catholic will all welcome new principals when school begins next month.
At Divine Redeemer, Paulette Walker (not pictured) will take over for Peggy Vice, who retired after seven years as principal. Walker has served as an adjunct professor and assistant principal in S.C. public schools since 2002. She is a member of Divine Redeemer Church and her son attends the parish school, according to Sandra Leatherwood, Superintendent of Catholic Schools, who provided information on the principals.
Our Lady of Peace welcomes a familiar face back to the helm as Stephen Hickey returns. Hickey served three years as principal before taking a spot as athletic director at Aquinas High School in 2015. He also taught math and social studies at Our Lady of Peace prior to his role as principal, and served in the U.S. Air Force as an elite guard security forces leader.
Our Lady of the Rosary welcomes Thomas Curtin (not pictured) as its new principal. Curtin is from Atlanta, Ga., where he served as assistant head of school for Holy Spirit Preparatory. He will assume the duties of Marianne Tully.
Tully, meanwhile, is moving to Prince of Peace as its new interim principal. Tully taught kindergarten at St. Mary in Greenville for 20 years and then at Our Lady of the Rosary for one year before being named principal of Our Lady of the Rosary in 2010. She has been principal there for the past seven years.
St. Anthony of Padua will also have a familiar face at the helm. Janie Harris, vice principal of the school, will serve as interim principal. She takes over from Sally Barker, who has led St. Anthony since Sister Catherine Noecker retired in 2015.
Ron Poles, the new principal of St. John Neumann, will take up the mantle of Barbara Cole, who retired after 16 years. Poles is from New Jersey, where he had served as principal of Jefferson Elementary since 2002.
St. Mary is seeing one of the biggest changes as it welcomes Steven Zimmerman, the first non-religious to lead the school in many years. Zimmerman comes from Christ Our King-Stella Maris School in Charleston, where he served as the IB coordinator, among other duties.
At St. Michael, Lionel Martin (not pictured) will take the reins from Pamela Walters, who will remain as a teacher. Martin served as assistant principal at the school and is a parishioner of St. Michael Church.
Summerville Catholic promoted Charlie Tisdale from staff teacher to interim principal of the school. He replaces David Friedlander, who returned to New York for family health reasons.
