NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) The Newtown Board of Education has unanimously hired a principal from Bethel to lead the Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Kathleen Gombos, the principal at the R.M.T. Johnson School in Bethel, was hired Tuesday night to become principal at Sandy Hook. The school was established in Monroe after the Dec. 14 shootings that killed 20 children and six educators, including the principal, Dawn Hochsprung.

Gombos succeeds an interim principal and is to start on July 1.

A task force of elected officials has recommended tearing down the Sandy Hook school and rebuilding on the site. The proposal now goes to the school board and ultimately to voters in a referendum.