About a third of the 31 public schools in Santa Fe will have a new principal this coming school year, while a handful of others will get new assistant principals.

The changes consist primarily of shuffling current and former administrators into spots left by retirement or job shifts. The district has also assigned the job of planning the opening of the new Amy Biehl at Rancho Viejo Community School.

For that job, district officials picked Pam De La O, who was principal at Sweeney Elementary for the last several years. She'll spend the next year planning for the new school, as well as serving as a mentor to other principals in the district.

Matthew Martinez, who was assistant principal at Sweeney, will take over for De La O, with Georgia Baca as his assistant.

Just down the street from Sweeney, Felicia Sena will become principal of César Chávez Elementary. Sena was an assistant there under Laura Castille. Castille left the school mid-year for another district position, and her replacement, Anna Vargas-Gutierrez, isn't returning.

Charles Lee, who worked as a teacher at Sweeney last year after moving to Santa Fe from Texas, will be Sena's assistant at César Chávez.

Another south-side school, Ramirez Thomas Elementary, will also get a new principal, as former principal Carlos Alarid was reassigned to be principal at Tesuque Elementary. Robin Noble, principal at Turquoise Trail Charter School last year, will replace Alarid, who will take over for the retiring Cliff Cisneros at Tesuque.

All the way across town at Atalaya Elementary, students will get their third principal in less than a year. Vargas-Gutierrez was moved to César Chávez mid-year, and her replacement, Sharon Doye, worked at the school on an interim basis. This coming year, Andrea Hamilton will be principal. Hamilton was an assistant principal at Piñon Elementary, and before that principal at El Dorado Elementary.

Agua Fría Elementary will also have a new principal, though one with plenty of experience at the school. Suzanne Jacquez-Gorman will replace Therese Moulton, who is retiring. Jacquez-Gorman served as an assistant to Moulton and to Moulton's predecessor, Vickie Sewing.

At Kearny Elementary, Karen Webb, an assistant at Ortiz Middle School this past year and Capital High before that, will replace Rick Gutierrez, who is retiring.

With the retirement of Winifred Krause at De Vargas Middle School, Barbara Lang, who was Krause's assistant, will be principal.

There are also a number of new assistant principals.

Vanessa Romero will be an assistant at Agua Fría, Coleen Korce at Piñon and Castille at De Vargas. Kay Sanders, who was an assistant at Capital, will be an assistant at El Dorado, replacing Jennifer Sallee.

Santa Fe High also will get two new assistants in Michelle Rosen and Elmer Chavez.

Two of Santa Fe's three charter high schools will also have new principals this year.

At Monte del Sol, Angela Ritchie, a long-time educator, will finally replace Tony Gerlicz, who left the school after the 2007-08 school year. Since then, Anne Salzmann has served as interim principal.

At the Academy for Technology and the Classics, Edward Woodd is replacing Ruth LeBlanc. LeBlanc announced her retirement last summer, but was asked back to the school after a principal search proved unsuccessful. LeBlanc died this spring as the result of a brain tumor.

Contact John Sena at 986-3079 or jsena@sfnewmexican.com.