SEQUIM — Call it a case of coming full circle.
Erin Fox — a Sequim High graduate, former counselor and most recently assistant principal at SHS — was named Sequim High School’s principal by Sequim School Board directors on Monday.
“I was born and raised in Sequim … to say the least, this seems incredibly surreal,” Fox told directors at the meeting.
“I’m beyond excited to work with the students, the parents and staff.”
Fox follows the tenure of Shawn Langston, who worked at SHS since 2002.
In June 2021, Fox was named assistant principal after working the past six years as a counselor at SHS.
Also on Monday, Casey Lanning was named assistant principal at Sequim High School. Lanning most recently worked as acting assistant principal at Greywolf Elementary School, and has worked in professional development/instructional coach and elementary music teacher roles with the district.
Directors also approved the hiring of Jennifer Lopez as Greywolf Elementary’s new principal, and new assistant principal Robby Fox.
Lopez worked as acting principal for a portion of the 2022-023 school year when long-time Greywolf principal Donna Hudson took a role in the district administration office.
“It’s an exciting time for Sequim that’s for sure,” Sequim schools superintendent Regan Nickels said in announcing the administration hires.
2022-2023 budget
School board members approved an operating budget for the 2022-2023 school year that anticipates about $46.4 million in general fund revenues and expenditures.
The budget also earmarks $5.185 million for capital projects — for projects voters approved in a four-year, $15 million capital projects levy in February 2021 — along with about $1.3 million in a transportation vehicle fund and about $790,000 in the Associated Student Body fund.
See the full budget at docdro.id/cRHyUlI.
The district’s budget anticipates a student full-time enrollment (FTE) figure of 2,446.86 students in grades kindergarten through 12th grade (including Running Start students). Enrollment at the end of the 2021-2022 school year was about 2,408 FTEs.
Anticipated budget spending includes $18.8 million on salaries for certificated employees, $7.6 million for classified employees and another $10.2 million in benefits and taxes, along with $6.5 million in purchased services and $2.9 million in supplies and instructional resources.
Spending in central administration for 2022-2023 is anticipated to be about $4.1 million, or 8.8 percent of the district’s spending, up from $3.1 million (6.5 percent) of the 2021-2022 budget.
Revenues include: about $7.7 million in local taxes and other local revenues; $23.75 million in state apportionment; about $6.37 million in state special purpose revenues, and about $8.67 million in federal special purpose dollars – including Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding to help schools recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The district employs about 180 certificated staffers and 120 classified staffers.
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Michael Dashiell is the editor of the Sequim Gazette of the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which also is composed of other Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News and Forks Forum. Reach him at editor@sequimgazette.com.
