A new principal will oversee Tamaqua’s two elementary schools in the 2021-22 school year.

On Tuesday, the school board voted to hire Tara Orefice as elementary principal at a salary of $88,000.

Orefice previously served as assistant principal at Tamaqua Area High School. She joined the district in 2018 and has previous experience as an elementary-middle school teacher.

In her new position she will oversee Tamaqua Elementary School and West Penn Elementary School, which combined have more than 800 students.

Former Principal Laura Shook submitted her resignation last month to take a position in another school district.

Raymond Kinder, superintendent of the Tamaqua Area School District, said Orefice has done a great job as an assistant principal at the high school.

“We feel confident in her ability to transfer her abilities as a teacher as well as an administrator into being the elementary principal,” he said.

The school board also hired a new assistant principal at the elementary school, Lisa Shirvinski, to replace Orefice. Shirvinski previously worked as a counselor in the East Penn School District in Lehigh County.