The School Committee welcomed a new Wareham Middle School principal to the district during its meeting on Wednesday, May 8.

Ellen Bankston, who will be replacing outgoing principal Howard Gilmore, has spent most of her career working on Cape Cod in Falmouth and Mashpee at the elementary and middle school levels. She also taught briefly in New Orleans.

"I come to you with 27 years of experience," said Bankston, who has worked as a special education teacher, a classroom teacher, director of curriculum, and an assistant principal.

Gilmore is retiring after the current school year.

Noting that he was one of the members of the panel that vetted the contenders for the position, School Committee member Michael Flaherty said: "I'm really looking forward to this."

Describing her goals as principal, Bankston said she would like to place an emphasis on using test results to determine how the students are taught.

"I'd like to focus on using all the assessment data we have. We test and we test," but do not necessarily take action based upon test results, she said.

School Committee member Geoff Swett welcomed her, and noted: "I want you to be sure, our expectations for you are exceedingly high."

Bankston said that Wareham, despite being a suburban town, has been described to her as having "urban demographics," for example, the fact that approximately 50% of the student population receives free or reduced lunch.

The new principal is up to the challenge, however. She dealt with a similar, and perhaps more dire situation in New Orleans, where 97% of students at her school received free or reduced lunch.