The first day of school will mark a homecoming for Chris Thomas.
Thomas, a 1988 graduate of Tahoma High, has taken over as principal at Glacier Park Elementary School.
For more than a decade he had taught and served as a principal in the Bellevue School District, most recently at Sherwood Forest Elementary, but the chance to work in the Tahoma School District was “too big of an opportunity to pass up.”
After graduating from Tahoma High, Thomas went to Boise State University, and once he finished college he came home and started coaching football with Tony Davis at his alma mater.
“From there I became an instructional assistant at the high school and got into a teaching certificate master’s program,” Thomas said. “I just fell in love with the idea of teaching kids.”
He completed his certification and got a job in Bellevue, teaching math, science and some physical education at Highland Middle School.
Then Thomas completed an administrative credential program through City University and from there served as the assistant principal at Chinook Middle School for three years then moved to Tyee Middle School for a year.
“Then I really fell in love with the elementary school level and went to Bennett for five years,” he said. “I have friends who work in the (Tahoma School District) as teachers and administrators. I keep up with the district and I knew that this position was open. I really became interested then passionate about the idea of the Classroom 10 vision of the district. It’s definitely cutting edge.”
Classroom 10, he added, “goes above and beyond the standards and not all districts can do that, particularly the large ones, and Tahoma had the vision and stayed the course.”
His background as an athlete and a coach has helped form his philosophy as a principal.
“I’m very much a believer in team first and using our collective expertise,” he said. “The best answer in the room comes from everybody. Collaboration is huge, teamwork is huge in my book. You can accomplish so much more through teamwork… That easily carries over into the profession of education.”
Students will be the No. 1 focus, he explained.
“As long as our hearts are in the right place — and I haven’t worked with a teacher whose heart was in the wrong place — things will get done and the right things will get done for kids,” Thomas said.
On a recent Monday afternoon, a father had brought his daughter, Piper, in to the office to register for first grade at Glacier Park. Thomas took the time to introduce himself, ask the little girl if she knew when the first day of school is scheduled and he told her that she needed to come up and say hello to him on the first day.
He’s looking forward to getting to know the students, of which there could be about 900, as well as the other educators he’ll be working with.
“I’m looking forward to getting to know the teachers at that level where we’re talking about what it was that we’ve done to reach this level of success and what to do to move forward,” he said. “I’m going to try and interact with (the students) a lot and hear from them, too. That’s something I look forward to.”
Thomas said he plans to take every opportunity to learn and improve as an educator as well share with and hear from his staff.
“It typically starts with collaboration and research and assessment of student learning,” he said. “This district in particular is very used to exactly what I’m looking for.”
Thomas replaces Emilie Hard, who opened Glacier Park 10 years ago, but left to take an administrative job overseeing curriculum in the Issaquah School District.
He will not be the only new principal in the district this year. Diane Fox will be a new assistant principal at Tahoma High this fall.
Fox comes to Tahoma from Central Kitsap High in Silverdale, where she was dean of students, activities coordinator and AP coordinator. She is a Washington State University graduate with a master’s degree from Gonzaga.
