At the Board of Education meeting held on March 4, the Reading Board of Education approved Susan Fraley as Principal of Reading Elementary School and Sarah Blair as the new assistant principal for Reading Elementary beginning in the 2020-2021 school year.
At the end of this school year, Reading’s current elementary principal Daniel Kist is retiring. Instead of hiring a new principal for the primary school, Susan Fraley was named the new principal for Reading Elementary School covering grades PK-5. A new assistant principal position was then created to support Fraley’s expanded role.
“Susan and Sarah have both been instrumental in merging our elementary schools. They will be an extremely strong leadership team for our elementary campus,” said Reading Superintendent Chuck LaFata.
Before the move to the new PK-12 campus, Fraley was the principal of Central Elementary since 2015. Prior to coming to Reading, she was a school counselor for Madeira City School District for seven years. She also served as a school counselor in Lakota Schools for six years and taught special education in Mason City Schools for three years.
Fraley has her Bachelor’s degree in Special Education and Teaching from Miami University and her Master’s Degrees in Counselor Education/School Counseling and Guidance Services and Educational Leadership from Xavier University.
“I look forward to taking on this expanded role, growing our students, teachers, and instructional vision. Sarah brings insight, energy, and a strong work ethic to the administrative team. Combined with our office staff and counseling staff we look forward to the 2020-2021 school year and all the potential it has to offer,” Fraley said.
Sarah Blair is currently serving as the Reading Primary School counselor. Prior to her counselor’s job in Reading, Blair worked at Bridgetown Middle School as an Intervention Specialist. She also worked in Lockland Schools as an Intervention Specialist for five years. She then came back home to Reading and over the years has been an Intervention Specialist at Hilltop, Reading Middle School, and Reading High School. In 2016, she stepped into the role of school counselor at Hilltop Elementary and now serves students in PK-3 at our new campus.
Blair graduated from Marshall University with her Bachelor of Arts in Communication Disorders with a minor in Psychology. She received her Masters in Mild/Moderate Special Education from Xavier University. She also has both her school counseling licensure and her principal licensure.
“I love this community and I am looking forward to giving back--plus more,” Blair said.