LEONARDTOWN — White Marsh Elementary School in Mechanicsville will have a new principal next month, ending a leadership transition that began in September when its principal was tapped for a central-office job.
The St. Mary’s County Board of Education on Oct. 21 appointed Madelyne Giles, an assistant principal at Chopticon High School, as principal of White Marsh Elementary, according to a St. Mary’s County Public Schools release announced by Superintendent J. Scott Smith. The appointment takes effect Nov. 2.
For White Marsh families, the move fills a seat that has been waiting on a successor for about six weeks. On Sept. 11, the school system announced that Julia Steele, White Marsh’s principal, would transfer to a supervisor of human resources position in the Department of Human Resources, effective once a replacement was secured. With Giles’ appointment, that handoff now has a date.
From the high school to the elementary office
Giles will move from a high school in the county’s northern end to an elementary school a short drive away. White Marsh, on Thompson Corner Road in Mechanicsville, serves students in kindergarten through fifth grade, according to its staff directory.
She has been an assistant principal at Chopticon, in Morganza, since 2023. The school system announced that year that Giles would move from academic dean at its Virtual Academy to an assistant principal post at Chopticon, effective July 1, 2023. That 2023 announcement listed the Chopticon job as an 11-month position; the new release describes her current Chopticon role as a 12-month assistant principal position.
The principal job is a 12-month position, the release says.
Giles holds a master’s degree from the University of Mary Washington in Virginia and a bachelor’s degree from Wilkes University in Pennsylvania, according to the school system.
Other moves this fall
The September announcement that moved Steele to human resources also named a new supervisor of instruction for educational technologies and media. The school system’s release on Giles did not name who will fill her assistant principal post at Chopticon or say when that position will be filled.
The release also did not say what priorities Giles will bring to White Marsh. The board’s meeting notices and future administrative appointments are posted on the school system’s press release page.
The Chronicle has covered other recent St. Mary’s County school system announcements, including the move to a new facilities scheduling system for community groups, which also takes effect Nov. 2.
