BERNE —  One year after she assumed her duties as the Berne-Knox-Westerlo secondary school principal, Marna McMorris has resigned.

She submitted her resignation to the board of education on Wednesday, June 29, just four days after she congratulated the class of 2016 at the school’s commencement exercises.

In a prepared statement,Timothy Mundell, the BKW district superintendent, said McMorris is moving on to “new professional opportunities, we wish her the very best.”

He acknowledged that “this change in leadership for our secondary school can seem unsettling at this time.”

When she was appointed, McMorris replaced an interim principal who had served since the resignation of Brian Corey as secondary school principal in December 2014. He had left to become superintendent at Jefferson.

Mundell assumed his duties one year ago, at the end of a two-year period in which two different one-year interim superintendents served in the post. The district business manager and elementary school principal were also new this past school year.

Prior to coming to BKW, McMorris was an assistant principal in Niskayuna and, before that, dean of students at Bethlehem, where she also taught Spanish.

When she was named principal by the BKW Board of Education, Vasilios Lefkaditis was the lone dissenting member. He said at the time that she would have his full support but questioned whether “she was the best person for the job.” (The Enterprise, June 4, 2015)  He declined to comment this week since he is no longer on the school board.

In February, McMorris told the school board that BKW had returned to a middle-school model this year, with “a team atmosphere.”

From August through September, McMorris said, disciplinary consequences were reviewed. The system, she told the board, is now fully electronic and processing is complete within 24 hours.

She described her school as having “quiet hallways, busy classrooms.”

In his statement this week, Mundell said, “We appreciate her work in supporting our staff and students.”

Mundell and McMorris could not be reached for comment, nor could Joan  Adriance, president of the board of education.

“Make no mistake about it,” Mundell  wrote, “we seek to find a candidate who values students and seeks the highest expectations possible.’

He promised a “search process that involves all stakeholders in selecting the next leader of our school,”  and said a timeline for the process would soon be published.