New principals hired at two Petaluma schools

Petaluma City Schools announced the hiring of two new principals Thursday.

Rebecca Lofton, a former teacher at San Antonio High School in Petaluma, will take over as principal next fall as Rusty Sims retires. At Kenilworth Junior High, Assistant Principal Bennett Holley will step into the role of interim principal, taking over for Emily Dunnagan, who is moving to Grant Elementary.

Lofton will serve as principal of San Antonio and Valley Oaks, both alternative schools. San Antonio is the main continuation school for Petaluma, serving about 90 students who have fallen behind in credits or require smaller class sizes for other reasons. Valley Oaks is an independent study school where about 60 students check in on a weekly basis with teachers but do the majority of work elsewhere. The schools are located on the same campus.

For the past two years, Lofton was principal at Crossroads Community School, also an alternative education school in Petaluma.

Holley has been assistant principal at Kenilworth, which serves about 900 students, for one year. Before that, he worked at Petaluma High School, first as a teacher, then as an assistant principal.