District Director of Student Support Services Bids Farewell to Enumclaw

The Enumclaw School District will lose two members of its administrative staff as the school year wraps up: Director of Student Support Services Aaron Stanton and retiring Director of Human Resources Kathleen Lockyer.

Stanton came to the district five years ago from Renton and though faced with the challenge of tight budgets for several of those years, he said of his time in Enumclaw that he is most proud of "the fact that we've been able to build a creative program in student support services even while on a reduced budget."

Examples include the district's behavioral program, the expansion of , starting a middle school peer tutoring program, launching a new high school life skills program and doing creative things with staffing. As an example, employs a schoolwide special education model rather than a more tradition arrangement, he said.

School Board President Chris VanHoof said of Stanton during Monday's Board meeting, "every year at the [school board] retreat, the passion you have for our students comes out."

The district announced Monday that Anne Chambers, most recently from the Tacoma School District, has been hired as his replacement. (Read more about her background.)

"We're excited to have Anne Chambers, but she has some pretty big shoes to fill," VanHoof said of Stanton.

For Stanton, the decision to leave was a personal one. "It's not about leaving Enumclaw," he told the Board. "It's about going home."

Home would be White Salmon, Wash., and Stanton will begin to serve as a high school special education administrator in Gresham, Ore., next year.

Enumclaw will be hard to leave behind, however. Stanton said the caring teachers, principals and community has made a lasting impression on him. "It's not like that everywhere," he said. "This really is something special. ... If it was just about the work or the job, I would never leave this place."

Lockyer was unable to attend the meeting but here's a link to the Courier-Herald item from earlier in the school year announcing both her and her husband, White River School District Superintendent Tom Lockyer's retirement.

She came to the Enumclaw School District in 2006, according to this district biography (scroll 2/3 of the way down) that was shared recently at the Retirement Tea earlier in the month. Said her biography:

Kathy has brought many new “human” practices to the Department, implementing birthday and condolence cards to all staff, recognition for longevity and good attendance, expansion of the Retirement Tea celebration and Lending Hands. She has fostered an open door policy where staff feel safe and welcome. She will be missed by many. Our best wishes to Kathy as she and Tom begin retirement together.

The Lockyers will be retiring to Tennessee, VanHoof said.