A former special education teacher at Sít’ Eetí Shaanáx – Glacier Valley School who was named acting assistant principal of Thunder Mountain High School before the 2021-2022 school year has been appointed permanently in the role.
Kelly Stewart, who has spent more than two decades as a teacher and the last eight years in the Juneau School District, will assume the job.
“It feels great knowing this is where I make my home for quite a while,” Stewart said in a phone interview. “I think that’s reassuring to staff as well, knowing that i”m here for the long haul.”
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Juneau School District Superintendent Bridget Weiss expressed her confidence in Stewart.
“Kelly Stewart has demonstrated her commitment to supporting Thunder Mountain High School this year and has done a terrific job acclimating to the high school level. She has demonstrated collective leadership and built strong relationships,” Weiss said in a news release. “I look forward to her ongoing leadership at Thunder Mountain High School.”
Stewart said her permanence in the role will allow the school to continue to rebuild the school’s culture and environment disrupted by the pandemic.
“We’re really focused on working on building and restoring our school culture,” Stewart said. “I think we’re on a good path.”
The focus of her efforts will be on freshmen and sophomores who have never experienced a more tightly knit school community, Stewart said. Stewart said she goes into each day with her eyes open and ears open for her students and her staff who are in the classrooms teaching them.
“A lot of my focus this year has been with 9th and 10th graders,” Steward said. “They’re coming in and they don’t know what high school’s like.”
Stewart, who holds a master’s degree in educational leadership from University of Alaska Southeast and formerly served as president of the Juneau Education Association, said she’s excited to continue working with all the students at TMHS.
“The thing that I enjoy in this position is the interaction with students even though at times it’s in the form of discipline, I feel like I’m able to do a lot of work with students and families,” Stewart said.
Stewart said she’s also looking forward to seeing students she previously instructed at Glacier Valley and before that, at Riverbend Elementary School.
“It’s a nice change,” Stewart said. “And it’s really great because I get to see so many of my students from elementary, seeing that they’ve grown up into young adults.”
Weiss and school district human resources head Tim Bauer are continuing to search for a principal to fill the position at TMHS, said district chief of staff Kristin Bartlett in an email. Longtime educator John Luhrs is currently filling in the role in an interim capacity.
• Contact reporter Michael S. Lockett at (757) 621-1197 or mlockett@juneauempire.com.
