Snoqualmie Valley School District recently announced the addition of three assistant principals, to serve all five of the district’s elementary schools next year. Each of the assistant principals will serve in a half-time position.

Ryan Hill will be an assistant principal at Opstad Elementary School. Kaaren Kim will divide her duties between Cascade View and Fall City Elementary Schools. Stephanie Shepherd will support North Bend Elementary and Snoqualmie Elementary schools.

As part of the district’s strategic plan, one of the key purposes of these new positions is to provide support for the state Teacher/Principal Evaluation Project (TPEP) which was implemented statewide in 2013-14. The new system is intended to be an instructional growth model, providing teachers with guidance on how they can improve their practices. As a result, principals are spending more time on evaluations to provide quality feedback to teachers.

At the elementary level, a single principal is responsible for mentoring, supporting and evaluating all teachers plus instructional assistants at his/her school building. This is a significantly higher ratio than at the secondary levels (grades 6 to 12th), which already have assistant principal support.

Hill has been with Snoqualmie Valley schools as a high school science teacher since 2006. He holds a master’s degree in educational technology from Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass., and a bachelor’s degree from Central Washington.

Kim comes from Kent School District, where she has been an assistant principal supporting East Hill Elementary and Crestwood Elementary schools since 2013. She earned her principal certification in 2012 from Seattle University, a master’s degree in literacy education from Lesley University and a bachelor’s degree from Washington State University.

Shepherd is now an early learning facilitator in the Renton School District, providing leadership support in the development of the district early childhood programming for grades PreK to 3rd. She earned a master’s degree in education technology from the University of Hawaii, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Nevada. She will complete her principal certification this spring.