Shannon Richards is the new Oakville Elementary School principal.
The Centralia School District Board of Directors has approved the hiring of Shannon Richards as the new principal of Oakview Elementary School. Her official start date is July 1.
Richards will replace Heidi Jenkins, who announced her resignation earlier this year, according to a press release from the district.
“Shannon is an up and coming administrative talent with great leadership qualities and strong recommendations,” Superintendent Mark Davalos said.
Richards most recently served as district title and LAP instructional specialist for North Thurston Public Schools. She was previously a fourth-grade teacher and instructional coach at Lacey Elementary.
From 2007 to 2011, Richards taught fourth grade at East Port Orchard Elementary and South Bay Elementary in Lacey.
Davalos said her “rich experience in the intermediate grade levels” made her a perfect fit for the school.
She is also a fluent Spanish speaker, a skill highly valued in Centralia where nearly 33 percent of students identify as Hispanic. Richards taught in a variety of bilingual settings in Mexico and Nevada from 1992 to 1997.
“Shannon’s bilingual skills will be a tremendous help to those families at Oakview who identify that they speak primarily Spanish,” Davalos said.
He thanked Jenkins for her leadership at Oakview for the past two years, while welcoming her replacement.
“It is wonderful that we can bring on another talented educator in her place and I’m looking forward to seeing how Shannon grows as a school administrator in our system,” Davalos said.
