Rachel Kennelly, who has been principal at Broadneck High School for the last three years, has been appointed by Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mark Bedell as the first principal of Old Mill West High School, which will open in the fall of 2024.
Kennelly has worked for Anne Arundel County Public Schools since 2011. She began her career by spending three years as a dance teacher at Old Mill High School and then moved to an administrative position at the school for two more years. She became an assistant principal at Broadneck in 2016 and was named principal of the school in 2020.
“I am very excited for the opportunity to open a brand-new school, unite a school community, establish traditions, and so much more,” Kennelly said. “I will miss Broadneck very much because the students, staff, and community have become an enormous part of my life over the past seven years and we have done so much together. I am grateful for Dr. Bedell’s faith and confidence in me to take on this new role and look forward to helping to build a new school community that will join the 13 outstanding comprehensive high schools already serving AACPS students.”
Kennelly will finish the school year at Broadneck and begin her new duties in July.
“There is no doubt in my mind that Rachel Kennelly is the right person to plan, launch, and lead this new school,” Dr. Bedell said. “She is a student-focused instructional leader with an eye for innovative approaches that create environments where everyone feels a sense of belonging. I am eager to see this school community be built on the foundation she will begin to lay for it in July.”
Over the next year, Kennelly will be responsible for, among other things, assembling the school’s staff, interacting with the community to build a new school culture, working through the process to officially name the school, and collaborating to choose school colors and a mascot.
Old Mill West High School is currently under construction on the site of the former Papa John’s farm near the intersection of I-97 and New Cut Road in Severn. Attendance boundaries for the school will be determined through the comprehensive redistricting process that is now under way.