Benfield, Severna Park Elementary Schools Add Assistant Principals

Two local elementary schools added assistant principals to their faculties for the 2024-2025 school year.

On June 26, Missy Fuson joined Benfield Elementary School, and Cheryl Slack began at Severna Park Elementary School. The moves were two of many in a significant reshuffling of staff by Anne Arundel County’s superintendent of schools, Mark Bedell.

This is the first administrative assignment for both Fuson and Slack, and the first time their schools have had an assistant principal on staff.

Fuson, who previously taught fifth grade at Nantucket Elementary School in Crofton, felt drawn toward leadership early on in her now 20-plus-year career in education.

“The moments in the classroom when the kids feel like they get a concept, and you see their confidence grow, that’s what really drives me every day in education,” Fuson said. “Looking at it now through an administrator lens, I feel like I can offer that same thing to teachers. I want them to also feel supported.”

At the top of the list for Fuson is closing the gap between general education and special education students through collaboration with the special education team. One responsibility she expects to lift from the plate of teachers and head principal Sue Myers is the coordination of adaptive education, or 504, plans.

Myers said she advocated for this new position at the campus for the past few years as the school’s population has steadily grown over her six-year tenure.

“That’s one more person that’s at this building that’s going to be a champion for kids, that’s going to be a collaborative member of the community, and I look forward to that,” Myers said.

Severna Park Elementary School welcomed Slack, who has been an educator for Anne Arundel County Public Schools her entire career. She spent 18 years teaching at Belvedere Elementary School and most recently served as the elementary co-lead for the Right Start program, which mentors new teachers who have either just entered the field or recently moved to the county.

After years spent collaborating with leaders at every grade level and specialty at schools throughout the county with Right Start, Slack decided it was time to more narrowly tailor her focus.

“I was making an impact at a lot of other schools, but I was ready to make a bigger impact at one,” she said.

For Slack, it was a former intern who first planted the seed that perhaps she should pivot from the classroom to leadership. A similar remark from a former principal was all the nudge she needed.

“It wasn’t so much something that I saw within myself; it was what other people saw,” Slack said.

Slack hopes to aid in the implementation of the new literacy program county schools will be using this year, in addition to alleviating the workload previously carried by teachers and the head principal, Kyle Butler.

“We know that her experience and skill set will assist in achieving our school's goals,” Butler said. “I am looking forward to her meeting families, staff and students throughout the summer and being a member of the SPES community.”

Both Fuson and Slack acknowledge they are entering schools that have an established reputation for high academic achievement, and they hope to encourage their students to reach beyond the status quo.

“Learning has no limits,” Fuson said. “We can always learn more, so even when you’re getting straight A’s, this is a very big world.”