CHIMACUM — An elementary school assistant principal from Eastern Washington will be Chimacum Creek Primary School’s new principal, Superintendent Rick Thompson announced Thursday.
Kyle Ehlis has accepted the position for the kindergarten-through-second-grade school, Thompson said. He replaces Kalie Enlow, who announced her resignation Dec. 21.
Ehlis will begin work July 1. The salary for a first-year elementary principal is $99,061, Thompson said, adding that the district will negotiate the contract with the Chimacum Principals Association this spring.
Ehlis now serves as assistant elementary school principal in the Mabton School District southeast of Yakima, a district of 850 students. Chimacum serves more than 1,000 students.
Prior to that, Ehlis worked for several years in Pasco as a teacher, math specialist and behavior specialist.
Thompson said that Ehlis “cites the opportunity to work in a K-2 building as very exciting, and a job he is well fit for.”
He told the search committee that “it is his greatest passion working with students and adults and helping develop a growth mindset of all individuals,” Thompson said.
Thompson said that Ehlis impressed the search committee as being “personable, knowledgeable and easy to work with. His background in curriculum and assessment using a PLC format made him the unanimous choice.”
Ehlis and his family visited the Olympic Peninsula several years ago, Thompson said. He, his wife and young daughter “are ready to make the move,” he added.
The Chimacum School District is facing declining enrollment and is realigning its classes to for the 2019-20 school year to go from four buildings to three. It will include Chimacum Creek Primary School for grades K-2, Chimacum Elementary for grades 3-6 and a combined junior and senior high school for grades 7-12.
