Lathrop High School will see a new principal when school opens on August 9.

And, as mentioned by Superintendent Jason Messer, the new head administrator for the Spartans’ campus is from another district.

Michael Horwood, whose appointment was approved by the Manteca Unified School Board of Education at their last meeting, comes from Delhi High School in Delhi between Turlock and Merced, where he has served as principal since 2006.

He is replacing David Chamberlain who resigned from the post in December 2011 because he was moving to Southern California.

“That’s all he let us know,” Messer said of Chamberlain’s mid-school year resignation notice.

The principal post at Lathrop High was alternately handled by retired former Sierra High principal Rick Arucan and interim district facilities director Bob Wallace for the time being. Interviewing candidates for the vacant principal position was not done at that time because, as the superintendent explained it, “Most principals don’t want to move until the end of the school year.”

The Spartans’ new principal holds a doctorate from George Fox University in Education Foundations and Leaderships he received in 2010. He received his master’s degree in Educational Administration and Leadership from the same university in Newberg, Oregon, in 2000. He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Soil Science at California Polytechnic State University in 1988.

Horwood’s professional background includes serving as assistant principal at Merrill F. West High School in Tracy from 2001-2006 where he supervised 131 professional educators and 30 para-educators, assistant principal at Valley Christian High School from 1999 to 2001, according to information provided by the Manteca Unified School District. He started his teaching career in 1997 at Valley Christian in Dublin, Calif., where he taught conceptual physics and earth science until he was appointed as the school’s assistant principal.