By Kira Yates ‘16

This school year began with two new school administrators at Sherwood. However, neither of these faces are new to the school. Positions in administration started opening when former Principal Intern James Allrich left Sherwood.

In August, Allrich had the opportunity to become the principal of Banneker Middle School, and after an opening for an assistant principal also arose at Banneker, former vice principal Erin Mazer took the opportunity to gain administrative experience at the middle school level and joined Allrich at Banneker.

To fill their positions, Principal Bill Gregory conducted interviews for an assistant principal job two weeks before school started and one week before teachers returned. Sandi Williams was promoted from assistant school administrator (ASA), an 11-month position, to fill this year-round position. Earlier in the summer, Karen Rose had been hired to fill another assistant principal opening at Sherwood.

Rose, the assistant principal assigned to grade 9, has come back to Sherwood after spending four years at Damascus as an assistant principal. She had worked at Sherwood as an administrator before that.
Rose, who lives in Olney and whose children graduated from Sherwood, says she is extremely happy to come back to Sherwood because she says it is like coming home to family. “I am looking forward to working with the Freshman Class, having them be as successful as they possibly can be and [being] part of all the activities that are involved with Sherwood,” said Rose.

To fill Williams’ ASA position, Sapna Chaudhry, the former math resource teacher, was promoted to become the acting ASA. Chaudhry said she “was not initially thinking about [an administrative position], but approached Mr. Gregory to find out the responsibilities attached to the ASA position,” and he encouraged her to apply.

Chaudhry explained that her position is labeled as ‘acting’ ASA because of how late into the school year things developed. With Allrich and Mazer leaving near the start of the school year it “was not in the best interest of our school to have a whole interview process, and that is why [the] position is acting for the time being.”
Although Gregory felt that the process was stressful, he is very happy for both Allrich and Mazer to have middle school experience.

A recurring pattern in this administration is promoting from within Sherwood. “I always look for the best candidate, for someone who believes in the best of students and adults and I have found that strong people within the school already have that,” said Gregory.

Gregory also clarified that outside candidates were brought in to interview for the assistant principal position but that for a few times, especially “for resource teacher positions, the top candidates have been all inside the building.”
Gregory said that he is excited to work with Williams in her new assistant principal position and Chaudhry in the ASA position.