Ocean Air, Ashley Falls start the year with new principals

Del Mar Union School District has two new principals this school year at Ashley Falls and Ocean Air Schools.

Karly Pecarella

(Courtesy)

The new principal at Ashley Falls is Karly Pecorella who most recently served as the assistant principal of Del Mar Heights School. Pecorella was selected to replace Casey Lange, who took a new position in Chula Vista.

Prior to joining Del Mar, Pecorella was an educator in the La Mesa-Spring Valley School District where she taught grades kindergarten through sixth grade for 20 years, according to a news release.

Krista Berntsen

(Courtesy)

After longtime principal Ryan Stanley took over as the district’s assistant superintendent of human resources, Krista Berntsen was named the new principal at Ocean Air. For the past six years, Berntsen has been the principal of Lake Elementary in the Vista Unified School District, and she previously served as a coordinator of curriculum and instruction in Vista and taught kindergarten through eighth grade in the Carlsbad Unified School District and in Ogden, Utah, according to a news release.

In addition to Berntsen’s principal experience, she has overseen the Vista Unified STEM Collaborative and is involved with the National Institute for School Leadership.

In addition to the new principals, at the district office, Del Mar has welcomed Matthew Lenz as the new director of maintenance, operations and facilities.

Lenz previously served as the assistant director of maintenance, operations and facilities for the Poway Unified School District. Prior to his work in school districts, Lenz served 20 years in the US Navy as a Civil Engineer Corps Officer.