SLIPPERY ROCK TWP — Three of the four schools in the Slippery Rock School District have new principals this year. However, none of these administrators is new to the district.

Although the school board voted to approve administration changes in January, those plans were tweaked Aug. 10 when Matt Lafko resigned.

Lafko was initially going to become a co-principal of the high school along with Cory Hake, who was previously at the helm of the middle school.

Instead, Hake will be the sole principal at the high school. Former high school assistant principal Jake Jefferis is the new middle school principal and former high school principal Kristie Shulsky takes over for Lafko at Moraine Elementary School.

District officials plan to interview candidates for a new high school assistant principal this fall. In the meantime, Superintendent Alfonso Angelucci appointed Kathy Kwolek as an interim high school assistant principal.

Kwolek retired last June from her position as superintendent of the Mohawk School District in Lawrence County.

Though classes began Tuesday, the new principals said they have been on the job since July.

For Shulsky, taking over an elementary school will be a new challenge. Though she is certified to be an administrator for grades kindergarten through 12, all of her previous professional experience has been at the high school level.

She was principal at Slippery Rock High School for eight years and had previously been a high school English teacher.

“It will be different. It will be a good learning experience; an opportunity to do something new. I think it will make me well rounded. It certainly is a positive thing,” she said.

Shulsky already has changed the fall open house when parents meet their children’s teachers. In past years it had been held in late September or early October, but this year it will be Sept. 1 and 2, she said.

Hake has been with the district since 2001. He spent seven years as athletic director, five years as middle school principal and Har-Mer Elementary principal and three years as middle school principal.

Many high school students and teachers already know Hake.

Students in grades nine, 10 and 11 this year were previously students at the middle school while Hake was principal there, and some high schoolers also had him as their elementary principal at Har-Mer.

Though many of the students are the same, the job isn’t.

“There is a lot of growth that happens between a sixth grader and an 11th grader,” he said.

Jefferis was the high school assistant principal for the past four years. Before that he served as Slippery Rock’s athletic director for about six months and had been a high school physics teacher in Maryland.

This school year will be his first as the principal of a school.

“I’m excited to be leading this school. It’s a great school with great teachers and a great staff, students and community,” he said.