Portland Adult Education will have a new executive director starting this summer. Abbie Yamamoto will take over for current director Anita St. Onge, who served for five years.

“I believe that she will keep Portland Adult Education as the integral community institution that it is and I also believe that Abbie will help us to realize PAE’s potential to continue to grow and evolve to meet the moment,” said Xavier Botana, superintendent of Portland Public Schools, when he announced the hire at the school board meeting Monday night.

Portland Adult Education provides free classes for adults including English for speakers of other languages, and high school, college prep and workforce training classes. The school serves close to 4,000 students including 1,800 immigrants, according to the Portland Adult Education website. The district as a whole has around 6,500 students.

Yamamoto is currently the executive director of the Maine Association for New Americans, a role she has held for two years. “I’m really honored to have been selected to lead the organization Portland Adult Ed and also very excited to be joining of this team of distinguished educators and administrations,” said Yamamoto. “I really look forward to working with all of you.”