The Burlington School Board on March 25 approved the hiring of Shawn Stringer to serve as the next principal of North Hill Elementary School.
Stringer will replace Alec Clark, who will be taking on the role of principal of Edward Stone Middle School.
“We’re excited to bring Shawn’s knowledge to the district to improve student learning,” Superintendent Robert Scott said. “Shawn’s well-rounded experiences at the AEA and building level will be a valued resource to our administrative team.”
Stringer has worked in education for 29 years, the last 12 of which have been spent at the Great Prairie Area Education Agency, first as regional special education director, overseeing special education for all of Region 5, then as director of district services, supervising all instructional services with the agency and facilitating the Principal Alliance and Curriculum networks, as well as literacy, school improvement and math teams.
He has enjoyed his time and the work he’s been able to do for the AEA, but he looks forward to being able to focus on one building, where he’ll be able to see the impact of his work on a daily basis.
“The AEA is a very complicated system,” Stringer said. “You have people out everywhere working with districts and schools, and to be able to go to one building to work with teachers, kids, parents, all the educational stakeholders excites me.”
Stringer first realized he wanted to be an educator while developing youth fitness programs for a health club in Denver, Colorado.
“It was at that time that I knew I wanted to make a career change and get my teaching license and try to make a difference in education,” Stringer said.
He went on to earn his bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Colorado (Denver), as well as his Educational Administration degree from Fort Hays State University in Kansas.
Stringer taught fifth and sixth grades and was an assistant principal and principal in Kansas before moving to Burlington to be closer to family.
He was an associate principal at James Madison Middle School for one year, then was the principal of Black Hawk Elementary School for five years before joining the AEA.
“I’m excited about getting back into the building and just being able to work collaboratively with all the education stakeholders, and hopefully I’ll be able to add something to that mix,” Stringer said.
“I think goal no. 1 is to start developing positive relationships with all the people involved and then just kind of getting a feel for the needs of the building and being able to work collaboratively with the building leadership team to take a look at data in what we’re doing well and then what are some areas that we could do better in, and then work collaboratively with the group on possible next steps.”
Stringer and his wife live in Burlington and have three children, the youngest of whom is a senior at Burlington High School. He enjoys golfing, fishing, and spending time with his family.
