Tom Tolen / news@whmi.com

A new grade level principal has been hired for Brighton High School. The selection of Jennifer Napuli Monday night by the Board of Education brings the number of principals at the nearly 2,000-student school to four: one for each grade at the freshman-through-senior high school.

The school was down to three principals after the departure of former lead principal Gavin Johnson in January. Then in April, grade-level principal Matt Evans was appointed by the Board of Education to replace Johnson. The other two grade-level principals at the high school campus are Tracie Richards and Nate Grabowski.

Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Jacob Anastasoff told the board an impressive field of 66 candidates applied for the position - three of whom were internal candidates. “They went through quite an extensive (screening) process,” Anastasoff said.

Napuli's most recent position was assistant principal at the Alexander Dreyfoos School of the Arts in West Palm Beach, Florida. U.S. News and World Report’s Best High Schools 2023 ranks Dreyfoos as #25 among Magnet schools across the nation, #90 in the nation overall and #11 among Florida high schools. Napuli also has served as academy coordinator at West Boca Raton High School and AP and honors chemistry teacher at Spanish River High School in Florida.

Napuli is originally from Michigan and was raised in Redford and Canton, graduating from Canton High School. She received her bachelor’s degree from Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan, and her Masters of Education degree in Educational Leadership at Florida Atlantic University. She will be moving to Michigan from Florida in the near future and will assume her new position in late July. Napuli is married and the couple has three children.