TUNBRIDGE — The First Branch Unified District, which includes schools in Tunbridge and Chelsea, has hired a new principal who will start July 1, according to the district’s Facebook page.
Janet Cash, who has experience as a principal, educator and outdoor program director, along with an assistant principal who has yet to be hired, will lead both Tunbridge Central School and Chelsea Public School next year.
The district announced Cash’s hiring, which the board approved on Feb. 11, in a Saturday Facebook post. She is currently director of special services and counseling at a preK-8 school district in Franklin Lakes, N.J.
The two new leaders will replace Mark Blount, the Chelsea school’s principal, and Michael Livingston, the Tunbridge school’s principal, who announced in November that they would be retiring at the end of the school year.
Next fall, the district will move from two preK-8 schools to a preK-4 school in Tunbridge and a grade 5-8 middle school in Chelsea. The outgoing principals have said they feel that the new structure requires new leadership.
Ahead of her July 1 start date, Cash is slated to participate in a community listening tour to introduce herself and hear from people in Chelsea and Tunbridge.
Chelsea will vote March 1 on whether to withdraw from First Branch.
— Staff report