Principal H.K. Gaster will say good-bye to North Rowan High School this week, stepping into a role to work with all the high schools.

The Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education voted Monday night to make the North Rowan principal the system’s high school director.

Former Director Matthew Sullivan left the system in November to work with the public school system in Colorado Springs.

Gaster will begin her new position Monday. Current Assistant Principal Bill Mauldin will step into the role of interim principal at North Rowan High School. Julius Suitor, who has been serving as an interim assistant principal last year, will take Mauldin’s place as interim.

North Rowan will have two other assistant principals, Gwen Harris and Alison Lenox.

Gaster said she is excited about the new opportunity because it will give her a chance to work with a group of principals she admires.

Among her initial priorities are the high school budgets, registration and an occupational diploma program — a mandatory state program for some exceptional children.

The decision to apply for the job was a bitter sweet one for Gaster. She said she will miss being around students and teachers as much. “Nothing will replace that kind of contact.”

But her prime reason for making the decision is her family. “I’ve asked them to take second a lot of the time, and I want to pay some of that back.”

Although this job will be challenging, it comes with less night-time activities than a principal’s job.

Gaster’s husband, Jack, is a teacher, athletic director and head football coach at Albemarle High School. Son Travis is studying at N.C. State University to be a teacher and coach. Her other son, Guy, is a North Rowan and Arizona State University graduate and works with the baseball program at Florida State University.

Gaster said her sister is coming to live with the couple.

In July 1998, the Board of Education unanimously voted to hire Gaster, making her the only female high school principal. Gaster had previously been an assistant principal at the high school for eight years.

Gaster previously served as principal and assistant principal at high schools in other counties, as well as a guidance counselor and teacher.

Gaster has a master of education in educational psychology from the University of Tennessee at Martin and a bachelor of arts in English and secondary education from Tennessee Wesleyan College.

Contact Jillian McCartney at 704-797-4253 or jmccartney@salisburypost.com .