Elementary Principal Candidates Meet The Community
 | Author:
Linda Kent, MT43 News Staff Reporter
MT43 News Correspondent |
Linda Kent
MT43 News Staff Reporter
Five candidates for the position of Townsend Elementary’s new principal spoke with the community, school, comprehensive committee and school board members at a meet and greet on June 3. A candidate will be recommended for hire to school trustees at the regular June 11 meeting. The successful candidate will replace outgoing principal Christina Hartmann, who will be taking on the role of superintendent in Seeley Lake on July 1.
Photos and brief introductions for four of the five candidates follow. The fifth candidate, Steven Cook, attended virtually and was not available during the meet and greet.
Katie Erb
A native of Phoenix, Ariz., Katie Erb developed a love for the beauty of rural settings including Montana and those surrounding her current home in Tennessee. The opportunity to move to Montana was a significant factor in her decision to apply for the Townsend opening.
Erb has more than nine years of teaching experience in kindergarten through third grade. She has also been the special education director for her small district in Tennessee and is a middle school principal.
She said she sees her biggest challenge in the elementary principal role is building relationships with staff and the community. One opportunity Erb identified is the chance to maintain and build the programs Hartmann implemented at the district to help students gain experiences they might not have otherwise. She added that science, technology, engineering/arts, and math (STEAM or STEM) are very important to her as an educator.
Tyler Maxwell
Tyler Maxwell is a 20-year veteran educator at Montana City schools who said he was drawn to the opening in Townsend to take on new challenges in his career. Having grown up in East Helena, hunting, fishing and camping in the Elkhorn Mountains are a big part of his and his family’s life.
Currently, Montana City’s 7th and 8th-grade science teacher and middle school technology and cybernetics instructor, Maxwell said he’s taught students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade in some capacity in his career.
Maxwell said he sees making sure the community is an active participant in the school as one challenge he would face in the role of Townsend’s elementary principal. He added that his personal and professional background opened the opportunity for him to make the school a safe haven for students and to help meet the community’s needs.
Stephanie Stephens
Stephanie Stephens is a native of Pony, Mont., who attended school in Harrison. She is currently an instructional coach working with teachers in Williston, N.D., and has taught second, third and fifth grades over the course of her 11-year career. The opportunity to move closer to family was a significant draw for the Townsend Elementary principalship.
One challenge Stephens feels her experience has readied her for in Townsend is helping teachers transition to standards-based grading. Standards-based grades report students’ mastery of the skills outlined in state and district standards as emerging, developing, proficient, or advanced, rather than as a percentage or letter grade.
Stephens said she is passionate about data-driven teaching practice. As an instructional coach, she works with teachers one-on-one to review data on student performance and identify instructional strategies to improve that performance.
Andrea Tullos
With five years of teaching experience, four of those as a Title I and social studies instructor at Townsend Middle School, Andrea Tullos said she became interested in the position to make sure the district had at least one candidate for the position Hartmann is leaving.
Two challenges Tullos said she sees the elementary facing are meeting the needs of students with special needs and meeting the space – and teacher housing – needs to accommodate the district’s current growth.
Tullos said she sees her skills in communication as an opportunity for the district, should she receive the position. She described herself as a very big communicator and a very social person. Tullos also highlighted her work ethic, willingness to step into roles as needed by the district, and existing relationships within the school as opportunities should she be selected.
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PhotoCredit: Photo Credits: Linda Kent
Image 1 Caption: Katie Erb
Photo Credits: Linda Kent
Image 2 Caption: Tyler Maxwell
Photo Credits: Linda Kent
Image 3 Caption: Stephanie Stevens
Photo Credits: Linda Kent
Image 4 Caption: Andrea Tullos
Photo Credits: Linda Kent
