SUMNER – An art teacher who was a semifinalist for Maine Teacher of the Year has been named the new principal at Hartford-Sumner Elementary School.

Lucy Johnson of Charlestown, N.H., was SAD 39 Superintendent Richard Colpitts’ top choice for the job. The board of directors approved her hiring at Wednesday’s meeting.

Johnson was busy Thursday getting acquainted at the school, which serves 325 students in prekindergarten through sixth grade.

“I’m really psyched to be here. I think it is a beautiful school. It’s obvious everyone takes great pride in what is happening here,” said Johnson, who recently completed her master’s degree in educational leadership at Keene State College in Keene, N.H.

Johnson has been an educator for 20 years, primarily an art teacher at the high school level. She taught art for 14 years at Carrabec High School in North Anson, and before that at schools in Machias and Lubec.

It was while at North Anson in 1995 that she was named a semifinalist as Maine Teacher of the Year. She also directed a community summer art program in North Anson that involved elementary-age children.

In 1999, Johnson left North Anson to become the art teacher at Madison Junior High School. After spending a year there, she taught art for two years at a high school in Langdon, N.H., before a yearlong administrative internship at a school in Londonderry, Vt.

Johnson earned her bachelor of fine arts degree in 1969 from Boston University’s School of Fine Arts.

Throughout her educational career, Johnson has served in leadership roles, doing staff development and teacher evaluations, and serving on an arts and humanities advisory committee for Maine Educational Assessment testing.

She has written and received numerous grants from the Maine Arts Commission, the Maine Department of Education and the Trout Foundation.

She said she brings “a real sense of collaboration” to the job, borne in part by her experience as an art teacher. Art is “really connected to all the other disciplines,” she said.

She and her husband, Arthur, are in the process of relocating to a home in West Sumner.

“I’m excited. I’m anxious to have the kids here,” she said.