CLALLAM BAY — Clallam Bay School’s principal, Mark Herndon, will leave for a position in Coulee Dam this summer.
Herndon will serve as the vice principal of Lake Roosevelt Junior/Senior High School, a 320-student seventh-through-12th-grade school in the Grand Coulee School District.
“It’s an exciting school in a brand-new building,” Herndon said Thursday.
He has been principal of Clallam Bay School, which has 130 K-12 students, since July 2013.
Previously, he was athletic director, shop teacher and science teacher at Neah Bay School.
Both schools are in the Cape Flattery School District, which is discontinuing the position of principal at the 130-student Clallam Bay School.
After June 30, it will transition to a “lead teacher” management model, in which one teacher — in this case school counselor Kris Hanson — spends part of a day on school organization and some student discipline.
The lead teacher is not an administrator; administrative duties of the principal are handled by the superintendent.
Herndon said he was offered the position of principal at Neah Bay but was concerned the move would split up the family.
His wife, Melanie Herndon, is currently the Clallam Bay School librarian, and two of their children attend classes there.
The move to Lake Roosevelt would keep the family together in one building, Mark Herndon said.
“Melanie doesn’t have a position there yet, but we’re working on it,” he said.
Herndon said he has family history in the Coulee Dam area, including a grandfather who helped construct the dam.
“I grew up on those stories,” he said.
His grandmother was born in Brewster, he said, and he still has family there.
His oldest daughter is a student at the University of Great Falls in Montana. The family’s move will reduce her travel time during school breaks from 18 hours to 7.5 hours.
Herndon has a bachelor’s degree in social studies and education from Westmont College and two master’s degrees: in secondary teaching from the University of Great Falls and in education administration from the Grand Canyon University in Phoenix.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
