Owensboro, Ky. (July 9, 2021) – Owensboro Public Schools superintendent Dr. Matthew Constant has named Beth Blandford interim principal of Foust Elementary School for the 2021-22 school year. Blandford will fill the role created by longtime Foust Principal Janie Moseley who accepted a position at the district’s Central Office earlier this summer.
“I am really looking forward to this new challenge,” said Blandford. “Ms. Moseley did an outstanding job leading this school for more than 15 years and I had the benefit of learning from her for a long time. We have challenges to overcome as we welcome students back full-time following the pandemic and I’m looking forward to making that transition as smooth as possible while making sure we are working extremely hard to shore up our learning opportunities.”
Blandford was appointed to this role after spending the past 3 years as Assistant Principal of Foust. She began her career as a Preschool Teacher at Hager Preschool for 2 years before moving into a combined twelve years as Kindergarten teacher and
Reading Intervention Specialist at Foust.
Blandford received her BS in Interdisciplinary Early Childhood Education from the University of Kentucky. She also holds a Masters degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Brescia, and a Rank I in Administration from Western Kentucky University. In this role, Blandford will be responsible for the overall administration of the school while working in conjunction with teachers and others to maintain a school culture of results-oriented collaborative learning. She will also be responsible for creating the school’s yearly Continuous Improvement Plan, complying with federal and state testing programs, and planning and implementing professional development for staff.
“With this position opening up so close to the start of the school year, and the anticipation of coming back full-time, in-person, we knew we had to get someone in place to make sure our students weren’t facing another major change as they start the new school year,” said Dr. Constant. “Beth was the natural choice for serving as interim because she has been working directly with Ms. Moseley for several years, the students know her and she is familiar with the day-to-day operations of the building.
This will be a seamless transition while the site-based council conducts a full principal search in the coming months.”
Blandford will take over as interim principal effective immediately. There is no set timeline for the site-based council to resume their principal search at this time.
The first day of school for Owensboro Public Schools will be Wednesday, August 11, 2021.
