Six new principals will begin serving in the 2026-27 school year in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. The following information was provided by the archdiocese’s Catholic Schools Office.
St. Jude Regional Catholic School, Rockville
Father Pawel Sass, pastor of the Shrine of St. Jude in Rockville, Maryland, has announced that Mark Crimans will serve as the next principal of St. Jude Regional Catholic School.
Crimans brings more than 14 years of experience in Catholic education, including eight years as a teacher at St. Elizabeth School in Rockville, Maryland and six years as assistant principal at Holy Redeemer School in Kensington, Maryland. Throughout his career, he has served on committees within the Catholic Schools Office and has led professional development workshops at schools, collaboration days, and at the National Catholic Educators Association annual convention.
Crimans begins his new role at St. Jude Regional Catholic School as it celebrates its 70th anniversary of Catholic education. He said he is excited to share his Catholic faith and passion for education with St. Jude’s community. He said he is looking forward to working with the faculty, families, parish leadership, and alumni.
Archbishop Carroll High School in Washington
Brandy Hawes, new principal at Archbishop Carroll High School in Washington, is an award-winning educational leader with more than 26 years of experience. Her career spans Pre-K through 12 education, nonprofit leadership, workforce development, and community engagement.
Recognized as a finalist for the Washington Post Principal of the Year in 2018, Hawes has served in executive leadership roles as a principal, chief program officer, and managing director, leading, literacy initiatives, STEM programming, and international service-learning experiences. Her work and leadership philosophy were featured in the book, The Connector Manager.
Hawes credits God as the foundation of both her personal journey and professional calling. She believes that education is an opportunity to develop character, purpose, and hope while empowering others to realize their God-given potential.
As a board member of the 1818 Legacy Project, she provides leadership, mentorship, and guidance to young people. She has guided student-athletes from high school to college and believes the strongest pathway to long-term success is one that develops the whole student, scholar, athlete, servant leader, and person of character.
Our Lady Star of the Sea School, Solomons
Father Bob Kilner, pastor of Our Lady Star of the Sea in Solomons, Maryland, has announced that William Bolin will serve as the next principal of Our Lady Star of the Sea School.
Bolin has spent his career serving students and families through Catholic education and ministry. He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from The Catholic University of America and an master’s degree in pastoral theology from St. Joseph’s College of Maine. He also discerned the diocesan priesthood as a seminarian with the Archdiocese of Washington from 2014-2019. Bolin is currently pursuing a doctor of education degree at the University of Mary, with an expected completion in 2027. He lives in St. Mary’s County, Maryland with his wife Stephanie. They are expecting their fourth child in February.
Bolin has served a variety of roles in Catholic education and campus ministry. Most recently, he served at St. Mary’s Ryken High School, where he taught theology, coached girls soccer, and served as director of campus ministry. In these roles, he worked closely with students, faculty, and families to strengthen Catholic identity, faith formation, student leadership, academic excellence, and service. He said he is excited to foster a joyful, academically strong, and authentically Catholic school culture at Our Lady Star of the Sea.
St. Joseph Regional Catholic School, Beltsville
Father Shaun Foggo, pastor of Saint Joseph Catholic Church in Beltsville, Maryland, has announced that Stephen “Bobby” Murphy will be the next principal of St. Joseph Regional Catholic School.
Murphy has 16 years of experience teaching and serving in the Diocese of Arlington, teaching for 11 years at St. John Paul the Great Catholic High School, two years as a campus minister at the University of Mary Washington, and three years teaching middle school math at the Basilica School of Saint Mary in Alexandria. He received his master’s degree in theology from Christendom Graduate School in 2011, and his master’s degree in educational leadership from Marymount University in 2019.
Murphy said he looks forward to serving and supporting teachers in the day-to-day work of forming students after the Heart of Jesus, guiding them in the development of intellectual, cardinal, and theological virtues, and helping them know the love God has for them. He is specifically interested in how our faith can enlighten and guide students to come to know what is true, good, and beautiful in every subject.
St. Bartholomew Catholic School, Bethesda
Father Mark L. Smith, pastor of St. Bartholomew in Bethesda, Maryland, has announced that Andrea Musalem will serve as the head of school of St. Bartholomew Catholic School. She is an attorney with 20 years of experience in the financial services sector. For the past 17 years, she led a team in the Office of International Affairs at a federal financial regulator, where she engaged with senior officials from foreign counterparts and worked with a wide range of domestic and international stakeholders. She speaks four languages, an asset in Bethesda’s internationally vibrant community.
A parishioner of St. Bartholomew since the late 1980s, when she was a young girl, Musalem and her husband were married at St. Bartholomew in 2001. Their four daughters received their Sacraments of Initiation there and participated in the CYO program. She has served as a lector for more than ten years, is an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, and helped establish and lead the Faith in the Family Program.
Musalem said one of her objectives is to strengthen the bridge between the school and parish, recognizing the many ways the two communities can serve and support one another and said dhe looks forward to converging her professional experience with her Catholic faith.
St. Mary of the Mills School, Laurel
Father Marco Schad, pastor of St. Mary of the Mills Parish in Laurel, Maryland, has announced that Nicholas Caputo has been named principal of St. Mary of the Mills School for the 2026-2027 school year.
Caputo has been a parishioner at St. Mary of the Mills since 2011 along with his wife and two children, who will be attending kindergarten at St. Mary of the Mills and the Pallotti Early Learning Center.
He comes to St. Mary of the Mills School with 21 years of experience in Catholic education as an administrator and as a teacher, having previously worked at St. Francis International School in Silver Spring, Maryland, Our Lady of Perpetual Help School in Ellicott City, Maryland, DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Maryland, and Resurrection St. Paul School in Ellicott City.
Caputo is also a product of Catholic education, graduating from Loyola Blakefield High School in Towson Maryland. He also has experience as an instructor for the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth.
He has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction with a focus on science education from the University of Maryland College Park and earned a certificate in educational leadership from Loyola University Maryland. He also is a graduate of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington’s Leadership Academy sponsored by the Catholic Schools Office. He said he is grateful for the opportunity to be the leader of his parish school.
