Newton school buildings get new principals next year

Following the upcoming early retirements of two principals, the Newton Community School District is filling the open positions in-house and transferring current principals to new buildings by the 2022-2023 school year.

According to the district’s Feb. 14 human resources update, principal Jolene Comer will be transferred from Emerson Hough Elementary to Aurora Heights Elementary, replacing the retiring Jim Gilbert. WEST Academy Principal Tara Zehr will then be transferred to Comer’s position at Emerson Hough.

Bret Miller, director of teaching and learning, will be taking over as principal of Berg Middle School following the retirement of Lisa Sharp. Amy Shannon, assistant principal at the middle school, will be transferred over to Miller’s role. The only principal position left to fill is at WEST Academy.

In December 2021, Newton News reported 18 teachers with a combined total of 523 years experience with the Newton school district were accepted into the voluntary early retirement program. Gilbert and Sharp will be officially retired by June 10 and June 17, respectively.

Comer has been principal of Emerson Hough from 2008 to 2010 and from 2016 onward when the elementary reopened its doors following realignment. One of the things Comer is most proud of during her time at Emerson Hough is the positive relationships built among staff, students and families.

“I’m also extremely proud of our teachers and the work they’ve done in their collaborative teams,” Comer told Newton News. “They have worked incredibly hard to analyze their grade level standards, plan instruction, assess students, and then reteach and extend student learning.”

Teachers meet in their teams weekly to accomplish these tasks and engage in a data protocol for math and reading at least once per month, Comer added. As a result, faculty are seeing Emerson Hough students grow in their math and reading skills “due to the hard work of our teachers.”

Comer is looking forward to the move to Aurora Heights and getting to know the new students, families and staff.

“I’m proud to be a Newton Cardinal and want to see our district continue to grow and succeed together,” Comer said. “I look forward to the opportunity to continue to work in this amazing district and build relationships with the Aurora Heights community.”

Miller has worked as the director of teaching and learning for the past three years. In that time, he has been involved in classroom instruction, the curriculum and materials used and state and district assessments. He also oversees TAG and ELL programs.

Prior to this district administration role, Miller was principal of WEST Academy. Now that he’s making a return as a principal, he is looking forward to the direct interactions with students and teachers. He has been in classrooms more this past year in an effort to improve classroom observations for instructional growth.

“I’m really excited to do that more regularly and work more closely with all of the teachers,” Miller told Newton News. “The experiences I’ve had the last five years have given me a much broader perspective of education. I hope I can use them to be a more effective leader returning to the principal role at Berg.”

Zehr took over as principal of WEST Academy after Miller moved to director of teaching and learning. The best part of her job, she said, is interacting with staff and students. The structure of WEST Academy allows them to form strong relationships and become more like family.

“Just like any family, there are ups and downs, but we get through everything together and come out stronger,” Zehr said. “One of our missions was to improve the image of WEST Academy and its students in the eyes of the general public, and hopefully that positive growth will continue in the years to come.”

Zehr is looking forward to her next venture as principal of Emerson Hough. She, too, is excited to start making connections with the staff and building relationships with students and their families.

“I’m also looking forward to learning a lot and getting to work with people I haven’t had the chance to yet,” she said. “Not to mention recess and classroom parties and assemblies and concerts and all of the other fun elementary events!”

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com