PORT TOWNSEND — The principal of Grant Street Elementary School, Mary Sepler, ended a 25-year career at the school this week.
Sepler will become the new principal of Lowell Elementary School in Bellingham at the beginning of the next school year.
“Grant Street has a special spirit,” Sepler said of the 320-student school that serves kindergarten through the fourth grade.
“In spite of the facility, which needs a lot of work, it’s pretty astonishing what we can accomplish here.”
Sepler, 55, is changing jobs to be closer to her husband, Rick Sepler, who resigned as Port Townsend development director in September after 8½ years in the post and is now serving as the Bellingham city planning and community development director.
Sepler has worked at the school at 1637 Grant St. since 1990, working in special education, as a classroom teacher, as a reading specialist and finally as principal, a job she began in 2012.
New principal
Sepler’s replacement at Grant Street is Lisa Condran, a third-grade teacher at Lincoln Elementary School in Mount Vernon who was selected from 12 applicants in March.
Condran’s first day as Grant Street principal is July 9.
She spent a week at Grant Street in May and had her final meetings with Sepler on Tuesday.
“From the moment I walked into the building, I thought it was a special place,” Condran said.
“I was impressed by the community and family support the school gets.”
Condran, 47, has four grown children.
Her husband, Mark Condran, a music teacher and piano technician, is using the move to Port Townsend for his own career change. He is to drive a bus for Jefferson Transit.
Condran, who works for the Mount Vernon School District, is moving from a large district to a small one, while Sepler is making the opposite journey.
Easier to be innovative
“It’s exciting to be in a smaller district because you can do innovative things more easily,” Condran said.
Said Sepler: “In a larger district, there is a middle layer of administration that takes on some of the departmental tasks such as grant writing.
“In a smaller district, you take on more roles and wear more hats, and there is a level of autonomy that can be really exciting.”
Sepler said she and Condran will face the same challenges, each needing to become familiar with a new district and new faces at an accelerated rate.
“This job is pretty intense,” Sepler said. “You make decisions quickly, and it is daunting to get to know a new school and a new district.”
Sepler said education “is one of the hardest jobs in the world,” although with rewards.
“The feedback you get from the kids is the fuel that keeps you going,” she said.
“You know that you’ve made an impact on a child or a family, and that’s why you are in the business to begin with.”
The biggest challenge, Sepler said, is money, especially uncertainty about funding levels for the next school year.
“I don’t know a district in the state that doesn’t have staffing decisions hanging on what the Legislature is doing,” she said.
“Not knowing who you can hire and not hire makes for a difficult planning stage.”
The Seplers intend to hang on to the family’s Port Townsend home, and the couple plans to retire here, she said.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
