The Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School has announced the hiring of a new director with international educational and administrative experience to succeed school director Bob Moore, who retires at the end of the school year.

Peter Steedman, 46, is currently principal of the Wareham Middle School, a position he took in 2016. He has held educational positions in Hyannis, Norwell, Miami, Fla., Brazil, the Netherlands and Australia.

In a telephone interview with the Gazette on Thursday, Mr. Steedman (pronounced Stedman) called the new position a great opportunity to put his varied experience to work.

“It’s really exciting, the job of a lifetime,” Mr. Steedman said. “Just to have an opportunity to be a director is something I hoped one day to reach. When I went out to the Vineyard for the interview, it just seemed like a really good fit. I enjoyed the people thoroughly, I really enjoyed meeting the students.”

The new director has previous charter school experience. He wrote his doctoral dissertation on charter schools and their perceptions among other educators.

From 2011 to 2014, he was a teacher and principal of the Sturgis West Charter Public School in Hyannis.

“Charters and traditional public schools have a tremendous opportunity to learn and grow with each other,” he said. “There’s a natural tendency, maybe to compete. I’ve heard wonderful, wonderful things about the superintendent on Martha’s Vineyard, and I’m looking forward to finding those areas where we can collaborate. In the end they’re all our kids. If we can find those areas of common ground, the entire community benefits.”

A native of Michigan, Mr. Steedman lives in Falmouth with his wife, who is a Massachusetts native and also an educator. They are the parents of three daughters, who attend school in Falmouth.

He said he will not immediately move to the Island, but may take an apartment here in the near term.

“I fully understand that part of this job, an aspect that I’m really looking forward to, is connecting with the Vineyard community, and getting to know that community,” Mr. Steedman said. “I want to be able to put myself in position where I can go to the local library, go to the movie theatre, meet different groups. Early on, you’ll be seeing a lot of me on the Island.”

He holds advanced degrees from Boston College and Columbia University Teachers College, and an undergraduate degree from Skidmore College.

Marc Favreau, president of the charter school board of directors, said Mr. Steedman’s international academic background impressed the directors, faculty, and students during a day long visit for presentations and interviews.

“He had many, many years of classroom experience,” said Mr. Favreau. “We wanted a school director who had been in the trenches for at least a decade. When he was presenting to the faculty and was talking about his classroom experience, you kind of felt the electricity in the room. Faculty want leadership, but they also want leadership stemming from someone who knows what their day-to-day experience is in a very energetic and often challenging environment.”

Mr. Steedman was one of 25 candidates to apply for the job and was among three educators who made the list of finalists.

He will be the second director in the history of the school, whose campus is in West Tisbury. Mr. Moore was the founding director and served in the position for 20 years.

“To be able to build a program like the charter school, basically from the bottom up, over the last 19 years has been a rewarding and wonderful opportunity,” Mr. Moore told the Gazette last year, shortly after announcing his retirement. “I’m most grateful that I’ve been able to undertake it because of the kindness of the people that hired me, 19 years ago.”

The charter school, serving grades K-12, was established in 1996. The school describes itself as “devoted to cultivating lifelong learners in a multi-aged, project based setting.”