By AL STOVER
Staff Reporter 

Medical Lake district welcomes Ames as superintendent

 

Last updated 12/31/2014 at 10:17am

Tim Ames (left) meets with Medical Lake School District staff and members of the community. Ames became the new Medical Lake School District Superintendent back in July.

The Medical Lake School District said goodbye to former superintendent Dr. Pam Veltri, who took a position as an assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction with the Mead School District. It wasn't long before the district welcomed a new face.

Tim Ames, former superintendent of the Wellpinit School District, became Medical Lake's new superintendent in July. Ames was sitting at dinner when he learned he would be the new superintendent of Medical Lake School District. He celebrated with a fist pump while his wife cried tears of joy.

"I was so thrilled," Ames said. "I wanted to start the day after they made the announcement."

Ames has lived in Eastern Washington for most of his life. After spending part of his youth at Grissom Air Force Base in Indiana, his family moved to Fairchild Air Force Base. His family relocated to Spokane where he attended and graduated from Ferris High School.

Ames graduated from Washington State University with a bachelor's degree in elementary education. He earned his master's in curriculum and instruction and principal credentials from Eastern Washington University before he returned to WSU for his superintendent certification.

After college, Ames taught in the Mead School District for 14 years and was an elementary and middle school principal for West Valley for seven years.

During his time as Wellpinit superintendent, Ames helped raise the graduation rate to from 80-90 percent and worked to bring culture back to the school. For his work, tribal elders gave him a tribal name.

"I can't spell it for you, but it means 'salmon Chief,'" Ames said. "It was a great honor."

In his first year at Medical Lake, Ames made it his goal to get to know the community and staff, as well as connect with Fairchild.

The school district had other big moments this past year.

Ann Everett became the district's new special education coordinator.

Everett is developing systems to focus on students' needs and growth, as well as reassessing student independent learning plans. She also met with principals to discuss developing stronger systems in their buildings.

Everett was also instrumental in acquiring the $100,000 grant from the Cornelius E. Hagan Foundation to help fund the school's Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) lab, which the district unveiled in May.

The lab has curriculums for fourth-grade, seventh-grade and high school students. It will also have a three-year focus with the first being the engineering design process, the second robotics and the third being computer integrated manufacturing.

The district adopted the Engage NY Math Curriculum for the year.

Ames said Engage NY was originally intended to be supplemental material to the school's math curriculum. However, the Washington state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) cautioned the district about purchasing a math curriculum because textbooks are not aligned with Common Core standards.

Al Stover can be reached at al@cheneyfreepress.com.

 

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