Allamakee Community School District Board approves hiring of new elementary school principal

The Allamakee Community School District Board of Directors met in a special session Tuesday, March 31 via conference call to remain within the current guidelines for social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. The board met to approve the hiring of a new principal for the East and West Elementary Schools to replace multi-year principal Joe Griffith, who has been hired as the Superintendent of Schools in the North Fayette Valley School District.

The board unanimously approved the hiring of Samantha Thornton as the East and West Elementary School Principal at an annual salary of $90,000. Thornton has spent the past year as the high school and middle school principal in the Wapsie Valley Community School District and was a ninth grade English teacher and Connector teacher for pre-kindergarten through 12th grades in the Jesup Community School District prior to that. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Middle School and Secondary English Education in 2009 from Black Hills State University in Spearfish, SD and completed her Master of Arts in Education degree in PK-12 Principal/PK-12 Special Education Supervisor from the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls in 2019.