Steven Silvestri has been appointed as the interim principal at Bishop Elementary School for the 2010-2011 school year. Steve Carme, the longtime and much-respected Bishop Principal, is retiring this summer.

A news release from Superintendent Kathleen Bodie says the search for a permanent principal for Bishop will resume early next year.

Silvestri is a retired public elementary school principal with 36 years of experience in education. He has been honored as a National Distinguished Principal and the Massachusetts Elementary Principal of the Year.

He served for 23 years as an elementary principal in the towns of Chelmsford and Westwood.

Before his years as a principal, Silvestri was a classroom teacher who taught all subjects in grades kindergarten, four, five and six.

Silvestri, 60, who grew up in Arlington and Somerville, is to officially assume his new role on Aug. 23.

He plans to meet with staff and parents next week. The first of several meetings for parents to meet Silvestri will be held at Bishop on Thursday, July 29, from 7 to 8 p.m. in the library.

Additional meetings will be planned for later in August.

News reports say he was attracted to teaching at Northeastern University, where he was assigned to be a kindergarten aide in Wayland. He taught kindergarten for eight years.

Silvestri got his first principalship in Westwood, which was seeking to expand its kindergarten program. He later moved to the Westlands School in Chelmsford to be closer to his home in North Reading.

When the Center School in Chelmsford reopened several years ago, he went there. He retired from that position in 2008.

Carme began his teaching career in Arlington more than 25 years ago at the Crosby School, which now houses Dearborn Academy. He became permanent principal at Bishop in 1992.