Mark Tinkham has resigned his postion as assistant principal at Cape Elizabeth High School to become the principal at Freeport High School.

Tinkham, who announced his resignation late last week, has worked for Cape High School for the past five years and served as assistant varsity women’s soccer coach. He will start his new position in June.

Tinkham said, although he wasn’t actively looking to leave Cape, when the Freeport position opened up, he applied because it was on his top 10 list of favored schools.

Leaving the Cape schools will prove difficult for Tinkham, he said. He’ll miss the familiarity that comes with time. “I can walk down the hallway, and I know the majority of the kids and not just by name.”

But Tinkham said he never planned on sticking around as vice principal forever. “You don’t become a vice principal with the intent of staying a vice principal,” he said.

Although Tinkham said he would’ve liked to stay with Cape schools, it seemed unlikely that a principal position would free up soon. When offered the Freeport position, he said, “it was something I couldn’t turn down.”

He’s perhaps most upset about giving up his soccer team. “I struggled with that tremendously,” he said. However, there is a chance that he could still coach in his new position. “It wasn’t ruled out. It’s a wait and see,” he said.

For now, Tinkham is focused on tying up his loose ends at Cape High. “It’s time to batten down the hatches and close up shop here,” he said.

Cape Elizabeth Assistant Vice Principal Mark Tinkham has accepted the principal position at Freeport High School. He will finish up the school year at Cape before beginning his new job.