Newark, MD, June 17, 2025– At today’s Worcester County Board of Education meeting, several school-based administrative appointments and transfers were announced. The new assignments are effective July 1, 2025.
Current Pocomoke Elementary School (PES) Principal Joshua Hamborsky will transfer to Snow Hill Middle School (SHMS), filling the vacancy left following the previously announced promotion of Principal Matthew Record to the Chief Safety and Academic (Secondary Education) Officer role. Also joining the SHMS administrative team is Kristina Salvarola, who is transferring from her current role as Assistant Principal at Snow Hill High School (SHHS) to succeed Karen Baker following her retirement. SHHS Teacher and Athletic Director Christopher Adkins will replace Salvarola as the school’s interim Assistant Principal. Melissa Freistat, current principal of Pocomoke Middle School (PMS) returns to PES as principal to succeed Hamborsky. Freistat previously served as Assistant Principal at the school for four years before becoming assistant principal at the middle school.
Christina Welch, principal of Buckingham Elementary School (BES), will transfer into a leadership role with the Worcester County Judy Center. As incoming Superintendent Annette Wallace has shared an overarching goal to have every child in Worcester County Public Schools reading on grade level by third grade, Welch’s role will be a key component in this work moving forward.
Succeeding Welch is Danielle Jackson, who was appointed to the BES principalship today. A nine-year veteran of the school system, Jackson most recently served as Assistant Principal at PMS. She brings a strong background in early childhood education to the role, particularly in reading and math intervention.
The Board also appointed Joseph Stigler to succeed Freistat as principal of PMS. Since joining the school system in 2011, Stigler previously served as Assistant Principal at PMS and currently serves in that role Pocomoke High School (PHS). Joining Stigler at PMS is Elizabeth Berry, who was appointed to succeed Jackson as Assistant Principal. A 22-year veteran in education on the shore, Berry is returning to the Pocomoke community where she once taught before becoming a school administrator in Somerset County, most recently as principal at Carter G. Woodson Elementary School.
Current BES Assistant Principal Jeffrey Postell will transfer to Pocomoke High School to fill the vacancy left by Stigler’s promotion, and Ashley Miller, current school counselor at Showell Elementary, will replace Postell as interim Assistant Principal at BES.
“I am pleased to have worked closely with my successor, Dr. Wallace, in deciding the leadership teams for our schools moving forward,” said Superintendent of Schools Lou Taylor. “She has a clear vision forward, and I believe the changes announced today are another step toward realizing that vision for student success. Congratulations to those announced today, and I thank them for their commitment to bring their best to these new roles.”