District-level changes reflect the consolidation and reassignment of duties after the reduction of 32 central office positions
VANCOUVER — The Evergreen School Board of Directors has recently approved the hiring and assignments of administrators for the 2019-20 school year. District-level changes reflect the consolidation and reassignment of duties after the reduction of 32 central office positions to help close a budget gap.
As previously announced, Mike Merlino was named the superintendent of Evergreen Public Schools in April. He will also retain the majority of his previous position duties as chief operating officer. He has been with the district for 20 years.
Bill Oman moves to chief academic officer, overseeing the district’s curriculum, instruction practices and assessment. He will retain oversight of the district’s high schools from his previous role as executive director of Secondary Education.
Brian Grimsted moves to the district office as executive director of School Support Services to supervise middle schools, athletics, activities, safety and security and information technology programs. He has been the principal at Union High School since it opened in 2007.
Erin Lucich will be the district’s director of Instructional Development. She will oversee all subject/content specialists as well as the launch and implementation of the district’s new literacy curriculum. She has been the principal at Illahee Elementary for six years and with the district since 1997.
Griffin Peyton will be the new principal at Union High School. He moves from Frontier Middle School where he had been principal and associate principal. He also taught at Pacific Middle School.
Filling the role of principal at Frontier Middle School will be Lynnette Sundstrom. She has served as an associate principal at Evergreen and Union High Schools, as well as the interim principal at Mill Plain Elementary. She has been in the district since 1988.
Allison Harding will become the principal at Cascade Middle School succeeding Kristin White as she retires. Harding has been the associate principal at Heritage High School since 2013 and previously taught at Union High School.
Burnt Bridge Creek Elementary principal Darcy Mitchelson will take on additional duties as the planning principal for the district’s new 22nd elementary to be located at SE 162nd Avenue and SE 39th Street. The school has just broken ground and will open in the fall of 2020.
Kiya Masunaga will fill the role of principal at Illahee Elementary. She has been the associate principal at Columbia Valley, and previously was an administrator in Portland Public Schools.
Two elementary principals will change schools-Elizabeth Brawley will move to Riverview from Orchards, and Riverview principal Stuart Anderson will take over at Orchards.
Joan Huston becomes the director of Cascadia Technical Academy, replacing Dr. Mark Mansell who has retired. Huston is a graduate and former instructor of the school when it was known as the Clark County Skills Center. She has also taught and been an administrator in the Longview and Woodland School Districts before returning last year as Cascadia’s associate director.
There are also a number of associate principal hires and changes. At the high school level, Ebony Kee-McKenzie moves to Heritage as the associate principal, replacing Allison Harding, from the same position at Frontier Middle School. Andrea Wooster will be the associate principal at Evergreen High School, replacing Lynnette Sundstrom, moving from interim associate principal at Mountain View. Gary Price moves from Mountain View associate principal to Evergreen, and Evergreen associate principal Charles Anthony moves to Mountain View. Charles Tumelty will fill the interim associate role at Mountain View from dean of students at Heritage. Tami Opplinger moves to Dean of Students at Cascadia Tech from associate principal at Endeavour Elementary.
Amy Haynes, from Vancouver Public Schools (and previously with Evergreen) will become the new associate principal at Frontier Middle School.
At the elementary level, Angelina Yelverton will be the new associate principal at Endeavour and Jeannette Crone will move into the same position at Columbia Valley. Both move from being instructional coaches at their respective schools.
Two current elementary associate principals, who split time between schools, will trade part of their school assignments: Kristi Wall will retain half-time duties at Riverview Elementary and move to York from Ellsworth; while Rose Treacy will retain the part-time associate role at Hearthwood, and move to Ellsworth from York for the other half of her position.
Evergreen Public Schools, with 25,500 students is the largest school district in southwest Washington and the sixth largest school district in the state. The district is also the third largest employer in Clark County with over 3,300 employees.
Information provided by Evergreen School District.
