Juneau School District announces administration moves

Published 4:30 am Wednesday, May 20, 2026

The Juneau School District (JSD) has filled several principal and director positions for the 2026-27 school year. These are all permanent positions.

Longtime school administrator Molly Yerkes will be the principal for Harborview Elementary School and the Tlingit Culture, Language and Literacy Program (TCLL). Yerkes is currently the principal of the Tlingit Culture, Language and Literacy program within Harborview Elementary. She has been an educator in the Juneau School District for more than 25 years, serving as the principal of Dzantik’i Heeni Middle School from 2010 to 2024, before stepping into the principal position at the K-8th Grade TCLL program in 2024.

The change in the leadership model at the school is due to the end of a grant through Sealaska Heritage Institute (SHI) that funded the TCLL principal position from 2024 to 2026. Yerkes will start the new position that leads both entities in August 2026.

TCLL is a place-based, cultural-based JSD optional program where the Tlingit language and culture are integral to daily instruction of national standards. It is housed in Harborview Elementary School and operated in partnership with Sealaska Heritage Institute.

Scott Jonsson, who has served as principal at Harborview Elementary since 2023, will be the Montessori Borealis Public School and Yaakoosgé Daakahídi High School principal, starting in August 2026.

Starting in August, current assistant principal Laura Zimmerman will become principal of Thunder Mountain Middle School (TMMS). Zimmerman has 18 years of experience teaching in the Juneau School District and the Mayatan Bilingual School in Honduras, and six years experience as a middle school administrator.

Lyle Melkerson will be assistant principal at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé (JDHS), starting in August for the 2026-27 school year. He will join principal Paula Casperson and assistant principal Nate Creel on the administrative team at the school.

Melkerson is currently the director of human resources for the Juneau School District, where he has served for four years. Prior to joining JSD, he was principal of McQueen School at Kivalina, Alaska in the Northwest Arctic Borough School District, where he worked from 2013 to 2022.

He joined that district as a math and science teacher for grades 6 through 12 and then moved into administration.

Current JDHS assistant principal Kelly Stewart will be moving to the principal position at Sít’ Eetí Shaanáx – Glacier Valley Elementary School next school year.

Dr. Sheila Armstrong has been chosen for the new assistant superintendent position at JSD. Armstrong is currently principal supervisor, instructional leadership director, and leadership development coach at Tulsa Public Schools in Oklahoma.

With 10 years of experience as a teacher, and 20 years in school administration as principal and district leader in Tulsa Public Schools and Owasso Public Schools, Armstrong brings experience in performance management, strategic planning, principal coaching, leadership development, and school administration. She was named Oklahoma State Teacher of the Year in 2006.

Armstrong says she is honored to serve as the assistant superintendent of the Juneau School District. She brings a collaborative, people-centered approach and is dedicated to listening and learning from the community to co-create a shared vision for the 2026–27 school year and beyond.

She joins the Juneau School District on July 1, 2026. The Board of Education created the new assistant superintendent position to replace the current chief of staff position that opened following the retirement of Kristin Bartlett after 18 years.

Longtime Juneau educator Kelley Harvey has been chosen as the director of teaching and learning support at the district office. Harvey was raised in Juneau and has 27 years of teaching experience in the Juneau School District. She has a strong background in elementary reading instruction and the science of reading. She was recently recognized as a science of reading ambassador at the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development Reading Symposium.

Harvey is currently an interventionist at Auke Bay Elementary School. During her career she has held a leadership role as an instructional coach for teachers at Harborview, Sayéik: Gastineau and Kax̲dig̲oowu Héen. She taught students at Harborview, Kax̲dig̲oowu Héen, and Mendenhall River Community School as a classroom teacher, English as a Second Language teacher, literacy leader, literacy specialist and reading coach. She has previous administrative experience as principal at Harborview Elementary School.

Harvey takes over the new role in July for the start of the 2026-27 school year. The position is open following the retirement of Kristin Garot, who served in the role for the past three years.

Student services coordinator Dr. Monica Buettel will be promoted to student services director. She has been a districtwide school psychologist at JSD since 2020.

Buettel has 25 years of experience in her field, serving in a variety of roles in Colorado and Alaska, such as a school psychologist, special education director, and traveling school psychologist. She was named 2011 Colorado School Psychologist of the Year.

She started her career as a teacher. She taught English at Jefferson Academy Junior High, Broomfield, Col., and was an elementary music teacher and band director at Cherry Creek Academy, Denver Tech Center, Colorado.

The position is open following the resignation of Dr. Jason DeCamillis, who joined the district in 2023.

Sybil Van Derhoff has been named director of human resources. Van Derhoff joined JSD as human resource specialist in 2025.

Van Derhoff has 20 years of experience in education, including eight years in school leadership. She is bilingual (English/Spanish) and bicultural, with a background in business, fundraising and school governance.

She started in school administration in 2016, and most recently served as elementary principal at International School of Panama before coming to Juneau.

Van Derhoff began her teaching career in Alaska as a first-grade teacher, reading specialist, and school librarian at Baranof Elementary School in Sitka, before becoming head teacher for Gustavus Elementary School.

Current human resources director Lyle Melkerson will be joining the leadership team at JDHS as assistant principal next year to return to work in a school.