Tooele County School District’s superintendent announced a shake up in school leadership last week that will send new administrators to seven schools.
“Performance issues were not in the mix here,” said Superintendent Scott Rogers. “The chief motive is to change the status quo and provide opportunities for growth and improvement. We want to be a high-performing district and encourage best practices at all schools for all kids.”
Earlier this month, Rogers announced the appointment of Bryce Eardley as the new principal of Blue Peak High School and the Community Learning Center. Eardley will leave his current post as principal of Northlake Elementary School at the end of the current school year.
Eardley replaces Mat Jackson who was selected to be the district’s new special education director.
Renee Milne, assistant principal at Stansbury High School, will be the new principal at Northlake Elementary School, Rogers said.
Milne, a former art teacher at Tooele High School, completed an administrative internship at Grantsville High School and Pleasant Green Elementary School in Magna in 2009. She has served as an assistant principal at SHS since the school opened in the fall of 2009.
Kent Parsons, who currently serves as the assistant principal of Tooele Junior High School will move to Stansbury High School to replace Milne.
Parsons has been at TJHS as the assistant principal since 2010. Prior to that, Parsons served in Wendover for two years as the principal of Wendover High School and eight years as principal of Anna Smith Elementary School.
Cheryl Miller will leave her post as assistant principal of Blue Peak High School/Community Learning Center to become the assistant principal at TJHS.
Miller has served in several leadership positions in Tooele County Schools. She was the principal at Stansbury Park Elementary School for 11 years, GMS for three years, and Middle Canyon Elementary School for eight years before she was appointed the district’s adult education director in 2010.
In 2013, as a result of a change in the management structure of Blue Peak High/Community Learning Center, which includes adult education, Miller became the assistant principal of BPHS/CLC.
Kendall Topham, who, as principal opened Stansbury High School in 2009, will leave SHS at the end of the school year to join Eardley at BPHS/CLC. Topham will be the assistant principal there.
Gailynn Warr, principal of Settlement Canyon Elementary School, will move to SHS to take over the helm as the school’s principal.
Warr taught in the Iron County School District for eight years before she came to Tooele in 2002 to teach social studies at Tooele High School. In 2004 she was appointed as an assistant principal at THS.
In 2008, Warr opened Settlement Canyon Elementary School as the school’s first principal.
“I am sad to leave Settlement Canyon. I love our students and the staff here. We are one big family,” Warr said. “I am excited about my new assignment at Stansbury High School.”
Jason Saari, who came to the Tooele County School District from Vernal in 2012 to be the principal of Wendover High has resigned his principal position and will be given a new assignment in the district, Rogers said. That assignment has not yet been determined.
Replacing Saari in Wendover will be Clint Spindler, currently the principal of Copper Canyon Elementary School in Tooele.
Spindler opened Copper Canyon as principal in 2004.
Prior to Copper Canyon, Spindler spent seven years at TJHS, two years as assistant principal and five years as principal.
“I am excited for the opportunity and challenge to lead Wendover High School,” he said.
With the new changes in school administrative personnel, the district is interviewing candidates to fill the position of principal at Settlement and Copper Canyon Elementary schools.
“We express our sincere appreciation for the years of dedication and hard work of these administrators in their current assignments,” Rogers said. “We are excited about the opportunities for growth and change that these new assignments will bring to our district.”
The new administrative assignments will be effective July 1.