XENIA — Cathryn Petticrew has been named principal at Tecumseh Elementary School.

Her appointment was approved by the Xenia board of Education Monday night and her first day will be Aug. 1. Petticrew, 43, fills an opening created when the district announced a series of administrative changes in April.

Petticrew was most recently director of student achievement at the Midwest Regional Education Service Center, which serves Hardin, Logan and Shelby counties. Prior to that she was elementary school principal in Mechanicsburg and an assistant elementary school principal in the Northwestern school district in Clark County.

“I missed the kid element,” Petticrew said. “I was really looking for the opportunity to come back to the principalship.”

Petticrew did her homework on Xenia Community Schools — specifically the math and English curriculum — before applying for the position, checking out Ohio Department of Education data.

“I felt they were heading in the right direction,” she said, adding that not having one K-12 building like smaller districts was another attractive feature.

“I liked the idea of the setup of the five elementaries in the district,” she said. “I think that’s best for kids.”

Petticrew was chosen from a field of seven finalists.

“The entire interview committee was excited listening to Cathryn during the interview,” said Assistant Superintendent of Business Operations Christy Fielding. “We’re excited to have her on board.”

While her start date is still a few weeks away, Petticrew has already assembled a list of other new employees at Tecumseh and plans to reach out to the staff so she can learn from them.

“It’s really about building that relationship with my staff,” she said.

Petticrew, a Clark County native, began her undergraduate work at University of Cincinnati and finished at Wright State, where she did her grad work and received her principal licensure. She spent the first 11 years of her teaching career in the classroom, teaching third and fourth grades.