Eight new principals will begin this fall at schools in the Federal Way School District.
• Sarah Gill, principal, Lake Dolloff Elementary: Gill most recently worked at Southern Heights Elementary in Burien.
Her goals for next year include moving along district initiatives, bringing the staff together as a team and implementing a teacher coaching system. She has two children, ages 2 and 4, and has lived in Federal Way for 12 years.
“I’m very excited to work in the district that my children will be going to school in some day,” she said.
• Mindy Thompson, interim principal, Star Lake Elementary: Thompson most recently worked as an English Language Learners program teacher at Star Lake. She has also taught at Lake Grove.
“I want to serve our teachers,” she said. “They work very hard and they need all the help and support I can give them.”
Thompson started her teaching career as a recess duty staff member 20 years ago. She has four adult male children and served as a Puyallup School Board member for eight years.
• Jenna Brown, principal, Wildwood Elementary: Brown most recently worked as the dean of students at Wildwood. She has also worked at Green Gables Elementary. On the Wildwood Web site, Brown states that among her goals are implementing a writing workshop model and providing a safe, kind and productive environment.
• Vince Blauser, principal, Sequoyah Middle School: Blauser most recently worked as principal of the Business and Industry Academy at Todd Beamer High School. He has also taught at Saghalie Middle School and has helped coordinate the district’s crisis response team.
• Liz Drake, principal, Todd Beamer High School: Drake most recently worked as a principal at a high school in Pennsylvania. She came to Federal Way because her husband works for Weyerhaeuser and was transferred here. Her goals for next year include making Todd Beamer a school that achieves success for all children.
Drake has also worked as a principal and a teacher in England and has been a principal at the elementary, middle and high school levels.
• Laura Davis-Brown, principal, Technology Access Foundation Academy: Davis-Brown most recently worked as a principal in the Seattle School District. She will be the first-ever principal at the TAF Academy, which opens in the fall. She attended Evergreen State College and City University.
• Rex Tucker, interim academy principal, Business and Industry Academy at Todd Beamer High School: Tucker most recently worked as an administrative assistant for the School of Global Leadership and Economics at Todd Beamer.
“My goal for this year is to do everything I can to assist teachers in supporting every student,” he said.
His first teaching experience was as a training coordinator for coaches in the Special Olympics. He was a gymnast in high school and worked part-time at a home for autistic adolescents.
• Rita Chaudhuri, assistant principal, Totem Middle School: Chaudhuri most recently worked as an instructional facilitator in the Tacoma School District. Her duties were similar to those of a teaching coach.
“My goal is to support my principal in her vision and her plan for 2008-2009,” she said. “The big goal is to impact student learning.”
In her spare time, she enjoys reading African literature and quilting. She lived and taught in Nigeria for 15 years.
Contact Margo Hoffman: mhoffman@fedwaymirror.com or (253) 925-5565.
