A Message from Superintendent Greg Baker

Dear staff, students, families and community

We have some leadership updates to share today following meetings at Happy Valley, Options, Bellingham High, Kulshan, Community Transitions and with the Department of Teaching and Learning (DTL) this afternoon.

We have two people leaving our student services team within DTL after this school year: student services director Keith Schacht and Assistant Superintendent Jay Jordan. To fill these vacancies and provide crucial support to our schools, principals and students, we have some announcements to make:

Katie Jones and Marty Atkins will both serve as executive directors of teaching and learning, supporting student services and schools, next school year.

Katie Jones has been principal of Options since 2021. Prior to Options, she was an assistant principal and dean of students at Squalicum. She taught at Squalicum, Ferndale High School and Windward High School.

Ms. Jones has a bachelor’s degree from Willamette University and a master’s degree in education from Western Washington University. She earned her administrative certificate from WWU in 2017.

Marty Atkins has been the principal of Bellingham High since 2021. He was an assistant principal at Squalicum High School for two years and served as an assistant principal at Sehome for three years. He taught and coached at Bellingham, Sehome and Mount Vernon high schools and in Hawaii, Nepal, Tunisia and Singapore.

Mr. Atkins has a bachelor’s degree in education in mathematics and chemistry, a master’s degree in science education from Western Washington University (WWU), and a principal certification from WWU.

Last week, Assistant Principal Chimere Hackney announced to staff that she is leaving at the end of this school year to be closer to family. We thank Ms. Hackney for her years of service at Bellingham and Squalicum high schools and her positive impact on students, staff and families.

Nikki Lockhart will be an assistant principal of Bellingham High next school year, serving alongside Chris Carlson. Ms. Lockhart has been an assistant principal at Kulshan Middle School for three years. She was a health and physical education teacher and athletic coach in Bellingham Public Schools for nearly 20 years with experience at Parkview, Columbia, Sehome and Bellingham High, where she also served for one year as dean of students. She was the dean of students at Shuksan Middle School for two years before going to Kulshan.

Ms. Lockhart holds a bachelor’s degree from University of San Francisco and a master’s degree and her administrative credential from Western Washington University. A respected leader in health education, her extensive experience brings expertise in caring for student mental health and wellness, and facilitating welcoming, inclusive schools with high, loving expectations for student achievement and behavior.

We also announced to Options staff today that Bethany Barrett will be the principal of Options and Community Transitions next school year.

Ms. Barrett has been assistant principal at Options for one year. Prior to that, she served as an assistant principal at Sehome High School for five years. She also served as a director of teaching and learning, overseeing our multilingual (ML) program and leading equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) work districtwide. Prior to leadership roles, she worked as a ML specialist and teacher at Squalicum High School and was an adjunct instructor in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) at WWU from 2004 to 2015.

Ms. Barrett has a bachelor’s degree in English and secondary education from WWU, a master’s degree in education from Walden University and an administrative certification from WWU. She is bilingual in Spanish and brings a strong commitment to support all students, families and staff.  Over the last year, she has built strong relationships with students and staff, and she looks forward to deepening those relationships as principal.

Nick Hayes will be the new assistant principal at Options High School. Nick is currently the principal of Happy Valley Elementary School. Prior to coming to Happy Valley seven years ago, he was a principal of Lucille Umbarger Elementary School, which serves 670 students (grades 1-8) in the Burlington-Edison School District.

Mr. Hayes' experience in Burlington Edison included work supporting students and teachers at elementary, middle and high schools in a variety of roles, including high school math teacher, PreK-12 math TOSA (teacher on special assignment) and principal. He centers compassion, equity, and belonging—creating spaces where students, staff, and families feel seen, heard, and valued; he fosters meaningful learning and dialogue that both challenge and inspire growth; and he recognizes and nurtures the inherent brilliance in every child.

We will share information soon about our next steps to fill open administrator positions at Bellingham High, Kulshan, and Happy Valley.

Please congratulate Ms. Jones, Mr. Atkins, Ms. Lockhart, Ms. Barrett and Mr. Hayes on their new roles and wish Mr. Jordan, Mr. Schacht and Ms. Hackeny all the best in their next adventures.

Greg Baker