10 Manatee schools will get new assistant principals. Those aren’t the only changes

Nearly a dozen Manatee County schools will soon have new assistant principals.

In a series of announcements on Tuesday evening, the school district revealed a host of leadership changes for the upcoming 2021-22 school year. Along with the new assistant principals, there were also three changes at the district level: a new deputy superintendent, a construction director and a chief operations officer.

All of the changes will take effect on July 1, aside from the hiring of a new construction director, who begins on May 24.

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL PROMOTIONS

Mary Oliva will become an assistant principal at Ballard Elementary School, 912 18th St. W., Bradenton. Oliva currently works on the campus as a Schools of Hope grant coordinator, a job she started in 2019.

Julie Gierhart will serve as an assistant principal at Gullett Elementary School, 12125 44th Ave. E., Bradenton. Gierhart started working on the campus as a school coordinator in 2018.

Natalie Jadid will work as an assistant principal at Manatee Elementary School, 1609 Sixth Ave. E., Bradenton. Jadid has worked for the school district as an instructional specialist since last year.

Karen Erikzon will join Oneco Elementary School, 5214 22nd St. Court E., Bradenton, as its next assistant principal. Erikzon currently works as an instructional specialist for the school district, a job she started in 2017.

Cindy Nguyen-Pham will make the move to Palm View K-8, 6025 Bayshore Road. Palmetto, and work as the school’s newest assistant principal. She now works at Samoset Elementary as its school coordinator, a role she started last year.

Mark Mueller will assume the role of assistant principal for Sea Breeze Elementary School, 3601 71st St. W., Bradenton. Mueller has worked for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction since 2013.

ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL TRANSFERS

Jennifer Moore, an assistant principal at Manatee Elementary since 2020, will become an assistant principal at Abel Elementary School, 7100 Madonna Place, Sarasota.

Beth Campbell, an assistant principal at Oneco Elementary since 2018, will become an assistant principal at Bayshore Elementary School, 6120 26th St. W., Bradenton.

Rebecca Britto, an assistant principal at Abel Elementary since 2015, will become an assistant principal at Rogers Garden-Bullock Elementary School, 515 13th Ave. W., Bradenton.

Livia Forrest, an assistant principal at Rogers Garden-Bullock Elementary since 2020, will become an assistant principal at Williams Elementary School, 3404 Fort Hamer Road, Parrish.

Sheila Waid, an assistant principal at Williams Elementary since 2018, will become an assistant principal at Rogers Garden-Bullock Elementary.

CHANGES AT THE DISTRICT

Genelle Zoratti Yost came out of retirement to become the deputy superintendent of instructional services for Manatee County schools in 2019. She filled the vacancy left by Cynthia Saunders, who went on to become the district superintendent.

Daniel J. Evans will take over for Yost, who plans to resign at the end of June. Since 2015, Evans has worked for Pinellas County Schools as the executive director for assessment, accountability and research.

Evans started as an English teacher at Martin County High School in 1994. He went on to become an assistant principal in Pinellas County from 2006 to 2010, followed by a stint as the principal for Dixie Hollins High School in St. Petersburg from 2010 to 2015.

The Manatee County School District also announced the hiring of its new new chief operations officer, a position last held by Sandra Ford, who retired in June 2019.

Joseph A. Ranaldi, the executive director of operations for Seminole County Schools since 2014, will become the next chief operations officer for Manatee County schools. Ranaldi also worked as the director of planning and project management for Brevard Public Schools from 2013 to 2014.

And from 1997 to 2013, he served as the principal/vice president for Starmer Ranaldi Planning and Architecture in Oviedo.

The district’s final announcement was for a new director of construction services, the position last held by Jane Dreger, who now oversees construction for Sarasota County Schools.

William Horton, who worked as the senior project manager for NDC Construction Company between 2017 to 2019, will serve as Manatee’s next construction director. Horton previously worked for the district under that same title between 1997 and 1998.

He also worked for Manatee County schools as the assistant superintendent of school support services from 1998 to 2007, and as the capital improvement planner from 2007 to 2008.

More recently, between 2013 and 2017, Horton was a project manager for Coastal Construction Group in Miami.

“These three leaders are all exceptionally qualified and their experience and expertise will strengthen our organization immensely,” Superintendent Saunders said in a prepared statement. “I look forward to working with them and to the contributions they will make in support of our students and schools.”

“I also want to say a special thanks to Genelle Yost for her very valuable contributions to our school district,” Saunders continued. “She came out of retirement to help us during an extremely challenging time for all school districts, and she has led our instructional services division with passion and grace.”

This story was originally published May 19, 2021 at 1:24 PM.