School Board Appoints ATS Principal, Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs and Director of Labor Relations

Additional Appointments Include Directors of Counseling and Assistant Principals

The School Board made several appointments at its May 26 School Board meeting.

Principal, Arlington Traditional School
The School Board named Sam Podbelski as the new Principal of ATS. Podbelski began his career as a special education teacher at Durfee High School in Fall River, Mass in 2011. During his time in Fall River, he was a mentor teacher, class advisor, and fencing coach. In 2015, Sam moved to Boston to work as an English Language Arts and Social Studies teacher at Brooke Charter School’s East Boston K-8 campus. Later, he was selected to be a founding member at Brooke’s new high school serving as a humanities teacher and mentor teacher. In 2018, Podbelski was accepted to the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s School Leadership Program where he received his Ed.M. in Educational Administration. After earning his masters, Podbelski joined the Boston Public Schools as the Director of Instruction/Vice-Principal at the Henderson K-12 Inclusion School until being appointed as interim principal of the school during the 2021-22 school year. Podbelski holds a B.A. in both education and history from Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island. His appointment begins July 1.

Director, Policy and Legislative Affairs
The School Board appointed Steven Marku as the new Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs. Marku brings 13 years of experience in law and public policy. He began his career as a judicial clerk in Delaware, then served in the federal government as an attorney for the Social Security Administration. After moving to Arlington, he became Chief of Staff to Delegate Mark Levine in 2016, covering significant portions of South Arlington and representing the needs of the Arlington community in the General Assembly. Since 2018, he has been working in advocacy at the state level and locally here in Northern Virginia, representing first the Northern Virginia Building Industry Association, and then the Arlington Chamber of Commerce. Marku has experience researching and analyzing legislative and regulatory policy changes at all levels of government and developing policy recommendations for a variety of constituencies. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Case Western Reserve University and a Juris Doctorate from Duke Law School. His appointment begins July 1.

Director, Labor Relations
Stephanie Maltz was named Director of Labor Relations. Maltz is an attorney advisor at the DC Government Office of Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining. In this role, she has spent the past five and a half years representing the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) in collective bargaining negotiations, grievance arbitrations and unfair labor practice complaints. Over the past two years, she played a key role in securing numerous Memorandums of Agreement with the teacher and administrator unions to return to in-person school operations as well as address other pandemic related health and safety concerns. Maltz earned her J.D. from Emory University School of Law. Her appointment begins July 1.

Other Appointments
The School Board made the following appointments which begin July 1.
• Chip Bonar – Coordinator of Student Behavior
• Johanna Boyers – Director of Counseling Services, Yorktown High School
• Kathleen Brewster – Director of Counseling Services, Arlington Career Center
• Kathryn White – Assistant Principal, Innovation Elementary School
• Steven Brown – Assistant Principal, Williamsburg Middle School
• Vica Irving – Assistant Principal, Washington-Liberty High School
• Michele Maurer – Assistant Principal, Tuckahoe Elementary School
• Timica Shivers – Assistant Principal, Swanson Middle School