Oct 7, 2014 2 min read

MAPLETOWN – Three Mapletown High School graduates will soon be among the top administrators in Southeastern Greene School District.

The school board, at a meeting Monday continued from its regular meeting Sept. 22, voted to hire two former alumni as principals. Bart Donley will be the new Mapletown Junior-Senior High School principal and Rick Menear will be the new Bobtown Elementary School principal.

The current elementary principal, Scott Sinn, was moved to the position of district curriculum director.

Donley is currently the middle-senior high school principal at Jefferson-Morgan. Menear is principal of Piney Grove Middle School in the Stokes County (N.C.) School District.

The two will join Richard Pekar, also a Mapletown graduate, who was named acting superintendent in June.

Pekar, who was also a principal in Stokes County School District before coming to Southeastern Greene in 2012, is now working to obtain his superintendent’s certification.

The new principals will begin work in the district after completing their obligations in their current districts, business manager Pat Sweeney said Tuesday.

The board considered the realignment of the administrative staff to focus on improving academic achievement, he said.

The district did not previously have a full-time curriculum director. However, the appointment of Sinn to the position will not increase the number in the administrative staff, Sweeney said. The district currently has an assistant principal position, previously held by Pekar, that remains unfilled.

Donley, who served as principal at Jefferson-Morgan High School since October 2011, was hired at a starting salary of $79,000. He replaces Jason Pappas, who left the post in August for a job in another district.

Menear was hired at a starting salary of $70,000. He worked as a principal and assistant principal in \ Stokes County School District for a number of years and previously taught math and science, according to biography on the district website.