By Brenda Sexton, The Courier-Herald
When Janel Keating took the job as principal at Mountain Meadow Elementary School in Buckley six years ago, she had a vision of turning the school into the perfect place for her then 9-month-old daughter and future classmates to learn. She pictured a school where staff members greet every child by name, where students are recognized for improvement, where happiness and hard work equal success. She longed for a school where every conversation begins with, "How can I help you?"
But on the evening of Feb. 11, the theme turned into "How can I thank you?" for Keating, as students, staff and parents kept filling her arms with flowers. The scene was the White River School District board of directors meeting, where Keating was honored as the Elementary School Principals Association of Washington's Distinguished Principal of the Year for the Pierce region.
"It's really an honor to represent White River," Keating told the board and crowd in attendance. She applauded and lauded the Mountain Meadow staff for the hard work and dedication to students that make the school look good. She also thanked the Mountain Meadow families for their support and district administrators for allowing her to be creative.
ESPAW president Larry Kuper was on hand to make the formal presentation to Keating and to let the board know, although nominations officially come from fellow principals, it was her staff that nominated her for the award. That same staff had tried to nominate Keating a year earlier, but she hadn't been a principal long enough.
"Technically, she's not a colleague, but she makes us feel like one," Mountain Meadow teacher Tracy Livingston said after the event. "We know we have a great principal."
Kuper, a principal in the Bethel School District, said Mountain Meadow is one of the friendliest elementary school he's visited. A golfer, he likened it to the Pebble Beach of elementary schools.
"We agreed with the staff this is someone who needs to be recognized," Kuper said.
The National Distinguished Principal Program is designed to recognize excellence in school leadership. As the Pierce Region representative, Keating will now vie with 18 other candidates for state honors and a chance to represent Washington at the national level.
In addition to the bouquets of flowers, Mountain Meadow staff member Tessa Bailey read a poem she wrote for the occasion titled, "That's a Distinguished Principal." Keating was also presented with a framed certificate, the mat signed by Mountain Meadow's student body.
"A stranger could walk into our building and ask what kind of person is Janel Keating, and everyone here would have only positive things to say about her," Livingston said.
Keating earned a bachelor's degree in elementary education from Carroll College in Montana in 1986 and a master's degree in educational administration from the University of Idaho in 1997. She came to Buckley via Sandpoint, Idaho, after spending her earlier years teaching in a series of private and public schools across the country.
Mountain Meadow is her first assignment as principal.
"When we hired Janel there was no doubt in our mind she was a top-notch principal," Superintendent Jay Hambly said.
Brenda Sexton can be reached at bsexton@courierherald.com
