LA GRANDE â La Grande School District officials did not have to look far to find Central Elementaryâs next principal.
The school district has named Monica West, centralâs assistant principal, to lead the school starting July 1.
âI am very excited about getting to work with Centralâs parents and staff,â she said.
West will succeed Suzy Mayes, who will retire at the end of June after serving as the schoolâs principal since the fall of 2014. West is completing her second year at Central as assistant principal.
West joined the LGSD after working for the Olympia School District in Washington for 25 years. She served as a teacher, instructional coach, middle school assistant principal and elementary school principal during her tenure in Olympia.
LA GRANDE â Music teacher Carla Arnold is Central Elementary Schoolâs go-to person for many technology questions related to distance education.
The educator, who helps put on workshops on distance education technology, delights in fielding queries about the subject, just as she does teaching students online.
Make no mistake, Arnold would prefer to instruct students in person, but when she has to do it virtually, she embraces the task with a zeal befitting her glass-is-always-half-full perspective.
âThere are so many options for doing things (with distance education),â she said.
Arnold puts these options to the test each school day afternoon during meetings of the La Grande School Districtâs La Grande Fiddle Club, which is run in conjunction with the Grande Ronde Symphony. The clubâs members meet online to play the violin, cello, bass and other related instruments under the guidance of Arnold, Grande Ronde Symphony members Denise Hattan and Kathy Thim