Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School Principal Karen Lockard will retire at the end of the school year.
Lockard made the announcement on Monday in a letter to the school community.
She was on the staff at B-CC for 27 years and worked in education for 38 years. She’ll retire effective July 1, 2015.
“Now is the time for me to pursue other opportunities. I am announcing now so that the county has ample time to conduct a search to find someone worthy of serving this community,” Lockard wrote. “I will always be thankful that I have been part of this beautiful Baron Nation.”
Associate Superintendent Christopher Garran also wrote to B-CC parents on Monday about the selection process for a new principal. MCPS will set up an interview panel including school staff, parents, students and central services personnel.
“Our first major step is to conduct meetings with Bethesda-Chevy Chase staff members, parents/guardians, and students in order to collect input regarding the characteristics that the community seeks in the next principal,” Garran wrote. “At these meetings, we will also provide detailed information and answer questions about the principal selection process.”
MCPS will also hold an April 14 meeting in the school’s cafeteria for all staff, students and parents to collect input on the search. It’s set for 7 p.m.
The school is on what’s probably Montgomery County’s most urban high school campus. With a growing enrollment of more than 1,900 students, it’s scheduled for an addition project that will bring 24 more classrooms, four science labs, two art rooms and a new dance studio.
MCPS hopes to start the roughly 45,000-square-foot project in January 2016 and complete it in August 2017, though it could start a year later depending on school construction funding.
Via Montgomery County Council
