DALLAS – The school board of the Dallas School District hired Matthew Barr to serve as its new middle school principal at a salary of $101,000 Monday. Barr is currently an assistant principal at Western Wayne Middle School in Wayne County and has previously worked as an assistant principal at Western Wayne High School. Contacted Tuesday, Barr said he was eager to come to Dallas. He said his start date is still to be determined and will depend on when he is released from Western Wayne.
“I am extremely excited for the opportunity to serve as Principal of Dallas Middle School,” Barr said via email. “ I look forward to working with students, staff, and the community in this new role.”
Superintendent Thomas Duffy said he and other Dallas officials were impressed with Barr’s experience as a teacher and administrator and said the selection was the result of extensive recruitment efforts. He said Dallas still had to “work through the timing” of the hire, but was anxious for Barr to join the Mountaineer community.
. “We’re thrilled to have him and we think he’s going to bring tremendous attributes to our district,” Duffy said.
Barr succeeds Sean McLaughlin, whom the Crestwood Board of Education hired as the principal of Fairview Elementary School in October at a salary of $106,131. The Dallas school board hired McLaughlin in 2024 at a salary of $106,999 and he had previously served as the principal of G.A.R. Middle School in Wilkes-Barre.
Jacob Sholtis, the district director of operations, assumed administrative responsibilities at the middle school during the search for a new principal.
“Dr. Sholtis has been serving in that building every single day as the ears and eyes administratively of the school,” Duffy said. “He’s been doing a fantastic job, bringing over 18 years of administrative experience into the role.”
The hiring of Barr is one of several recent administrative changes the district has made. In October, Dan Natitus became the principal of the high school. Natitus had been an assistant principal at the high school since 2019 and had been a special-education teacher at the Luzerne Intermediate Unit for 15 years. A district announcement praised Natitus, an alumnus, district resident, and parent, for his experience and “unmatched rapport with Dallas students and expertise in school safety initiative implementation.”
In addition to filling its middle school principal vacancy, the district also found an athletic director for the rest of the school year. The school board unanimously appointed high school English teacher Matthew Samuel as its A.D. for the remainder of 2025-26 at a prorated stipend of $10,421.Samuel replaces Michael Richards, who had served as the school district’s athletic director since 2019 and had worked in the district as an occupational therapist and as the Mountaineers’ varsity wrestling coach. The school board voted 7-2 to accept his retirement in December.