Suffolk is losing another public education administrator after an assistant principal at John F. Kennedy Middle School accepted an offer to become an elementary school principal with Isle of Wight County.

Kevin Goetz, who had been with the Suffolk district at JFK for about one year, said the county’s offer, allowing him to work closer to home and further his career, was too good to refuse.

“I came to Suffolk last year and had every intention of being here 10, 15, 20 years, but the opportunity at Carrollton came up and I couldn’t turn that down,” said Goetz, who officially starts at Carrollton Elementary School Monday.

Goetz’s departure follows that of Elephant’s Fork Elementary School Principal Veleka Gatling, who starts with the Norfolk school division next month.

Goetz has experience in all three levels of the education system, and has also worked in the school districts of Richmond and York County.

Prior to his year at JFK, he had spent four years as a school psychologist, three years in central office and special education, and was an assistant principal in another elementary school for three years.

One of Goetz’s daughters is a rising third grader at Carrollton Elementary. His son will start kindergarten at the school in 2013, and another daughter, 2, will follow her siblings there in a couple of years.

“I guess one of the biggest things for me is being a principal where I live,” Goetz said. “It’s my neighborhood, and I will be seeing kids that I live next to, kids that I coach in community sports, and that’s very exciting.”

Goetz lives five miles from the school — an enviable commute. “I’ll be riding my bike there all summer long, back and forward,” he said.

He will be pleased to be on an equal footing with his wife, already a principal.

When she playfully chides him for his “slow” career progression, “Now I will be able to come back at her,” he said.

Asked if salary had anything to do with the move, Goetz replied, “In all honesty, no. It wasn’t an issue.

“I certainly get a raise to go, but I’m sure I would have gotten that here in Suffolk as well.”

He said he has loved teaching in Suffolk. “It’s a great school system,” he added.

Goetz still has some solemn news to break to his daughter, who has high hopes for perks when her father becomes principal at her school.

“For some reason, she thinks she’s going to get ice cream every day,” Goetz said.

Applications for the new assistant principal at JFK will be screened and candidates interviewed “with hopes to hire as soon as possible,” Suffolk school district spokeswoman Bethanne Bradshaw stated in an email.