St. Anne-Pacelli lower school interim principal gets permanent job

Only two months after St. Anne-Pacelli Catholic School named her the interim principal of its lower school, Jocelyn Smith already has been approved for the permanent position.

"Mrs. Smith continues to demonstrate her leadership abilities at St. Anne-Pacelli," the Rev. Jeremiah McCarthy, pastor of St. Anne Catholic Church, said in a news release Thursday. "I have every confidence that she will continue to bring a strong focus to Catholic identity and academic excellence in her role as principal of the Lower School."

Smith was the assistant principal when she took responsibility for the lower school July 16 as interim principal. She succeeds Gayla Arrington, who resigned this summer to do "what was best for her family," according to the school's news release in July.

Kim Green replaces Smith as assistant principal and will continue to serve as guidance counselor as well for the lower school, which serves students in prekindergarten through eighth grade.

Smith received a Catholic education at Our Lady of Good Counsel and Dominican Academy in New York City, then a bachelor's degree in political science and Spanish art and literature from Fordham University, a master's degree in elementary education from Mercy College and a specialist's degree in educational leadership from Columbus State University. She taught first and second grades in the New York City Department of Education from 2002-09 before moving to the Muscogee County School District, where she taught kindergarten at Cusseta Road Elementary School from 2009-10 and was a Title I intervention specialist from 2010 until she joined the St. Anne-Pacelli administration July 1, 2014.

Mark Rice, 706-576-6272. Follow him on Twitter@MarkRiceLE.

This story was originally published September 10, 2015 at 9:02 PM with the headline "St. Anne-Pacelli lower school interim principal gets permanent job ."