The school board confirmed a Palo Alto High School assistant principal’s appointment to become principal of a district elementary school at Tuesday’s meeting.

Superintendent Kevin Skelly recommended the appointment of current Paly assistant principal Chuck Merritt to the principal position at El Carmelo Elementary School, according to a press release last week.

Merritt will be replacing current El Carmelo Principal Lupe Garcia on July 1. Garcia will be the principal at Palo Verde Elementary School for the next school year.

According to the release, the El Carmelo Principal Selection Input Committee feels that Merritt is “a passionate educator who would provide a smooth transition for the school. Merritt’s interpersonal skills and diverse experiences would contribute greatly to the school’s community building efforts.”

Merritt is eager to begin work at El Carmelo and is happy with the appointment.

“I have been contemplating work at the elementary level for a number of years,” Merritt said. “When I saw a couple of weeks ago the opening at El Carmelo, I applied.”

According to the press release, Skelly observed that, “Mr. Merritt’s commitment to student learning and building relationships will serve the El Carmelo community well and that he would quickly adapt to the elementary level.”

Merritt’s fluency in both English and Spanish was another factor contributing to his nomination. Garcia is also bilingual in Spanish and English, and the selection committee wanted to nominate another bilingual principal.

Merritt began working at Paly as a Spanish teacher for levels 1 through 4AP. He continued to teach Spanish until he was hired as assistant principal at Paly in 2001.

As Paly’s assistant principal, Merritt manages the school’s finances, technology, testing, and staff development.

In this position, Merritt already has experience working with elementary school staff. According to the press release, while working at Paly, he earned a position as a technology learning coordinator, which required training elementary staff in the use of technology.

Using this experience, Merritt looks forward to continuing the success that El Carmelo has seen in recent years.

“El Carmelo is a fantastic school,” Merritt said. “I’m not so much worried about changing at first as I am supporting the great work going on there. Of course, like Paly, every place can improve, so I plan to keep my eyes open for ways that I can support that at El Carmelo.”

In his capacity as assistant principal, Merritt has also supervised the Building for Education construction that occurred at Paly.

“I am really proud of having kept us going during a sometimes very challenging building program,” Merritt said. “Any community can get stressed when it’s under construction and schools are no exception. I also managed to sneak a lot of campus beautification into the process.”

Paly Principal Jacqueline McEvoy said that the search for Merritt’s replacement will begin in the next few weeks. She also expressed interest in having one or two students on the interview committee.