Six days before the start of classes, the Board of School Commissioners tonight appointed principals to seven Baltimore schools that were without leaders.

Northwood Appold Community Academy, a charter elementary school near Morgan State University, remains without a principal.

Lisa Grillo, the human capital officer, said the school has a leader in mind and that they would be appointed shortly.

An interim principal will be in place at Northwood Appold when the school year begins.

Grillo said there were currently 90 teacher vacancies in the system, down from 192 teacher vacancies that marked the opening of classes a year ago.

Three of the principals named tonight were interim appointments, allowing the community to decide whether to retain them or search for a new principal in the future, according to Grillo.

At a City Council hearing yesterday, schools CEO Gregory Thornton and Grillo were sharply questioned about the number of principal vacancies, which they said were below the historical number in Baltimore City, but about double the national average.

The seven principals appointed tonight were:

• LaShella Stanfield, interim principal of Cross Country Elementary

• Pedro Cartagena, principal of Holabird Elementary (a.k.a. Holabird Academy)

• Suzanne Penny, interim principal of Midtown Academy

• Charles Spain, principal of the Maryland Academy of Technology and Health Sciences (MATHS)

• Shannon Mobley, principal of Digital Harbor High

• Sandy Mason, interim principal of the Baltimore IT Academy

• Betty Adams, principal of Historic Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Elementary.