Three of Bulloch County Schools’ elementary schools will have new principals beginning July 1.
Superintendent of Schools Charles Wilson announced on Jan. 19, that Portal Elementary School, Langston Chapel Elementary School, and Mattie Lively Elementary School are campuses where leadership changes will be made for the 2024-2025 school year.
Portal Elementary’s principal, Carolyn Vasilatos, Ed.D., will retire at the end of the current school year with 29 years of service. She has served Bulloch County for 24 of those years, nine as a principal at Mattie Lively (July 2015 – June 30, 2019) and Portal Elementary (July 1, 2019 – June 30, 2024) and 10 years at Julia P. Bryant Elementary as a kindergarten and first-grade teacher.
In a series of intra-district transfers that will take effect on July 1, Wilson will reassign Langston Chapel Elementary’s principal, Nate Pennington, Ed.D., to Portal Elementary and Mattie Lively Elementary’s principal, Aldric Dekle, to Langston Elementary. Both are experienced administrators in the district who have served as principals at their current schools since 2021.
As a routine procedure in preparation for potential principal vacancies, the district posted a generic principal vacancy in mid-December. This will allow the district to move forward immediately in the hiring process for a principal at Mattie Lively Elementary School. Wilson expects to recommend a candidate to the Board of Education for this position once the district’s candidate screening and interview process is complete.
Wilson has communicated with all administrators, and principals have notified their employees. Principal contracts are scheduled to be renewed by May 15, but no further changes are planned by the superintendent. Principals will continue to serve in their current roles through June 30. The school district’s new fiscal year begins July 1.
