Two new school principals, newly created assistant superintendent named by Juneau School District

Several other top school, administrative hires join long list of new leaders for coming school year, including new superintendent

Thunder Mountain Middle School, which also serves as the Juneau School District’s administrative headquarters. (City and Borough of Juneau photo)

By Mark Sabbatini

Juneau Independent

Seven new leadership hires in the Juneau School District for the coming school year, including two principals and a newly created assistant superintendent position, were announced Friday.

The new hires, most of whom are already employees of the district, join a shakeup of other top staff that includes new superintendent Shawn Arnold and the departure of longtime chief of staff Kristin Bartlett, who is not being replaced due to the creation of the assistant superintendent position earlier this year by the Juneau Board of Education.

Filling the number-two role at the district will be Sheila Armstrong, who is currently principal supervisor, instructional leadership director and leadership development coach at Tulsa Public Schools in Oklahoma, according to a Juneau School District announcement at its website. She has 20 years of administration experience and 10 as a teacher at school districts in Oklahoma.

The two new principals are each being promoted at the schools where they already work.

Molly Yerkes, who was the principal of the Tlingit Culture, Language and Literacy Program within Harborview Elementary School, is now the principal of Harborview as well. The change is occurring due to the lapse of a Sealaska Heritage Institute grant that funded the TCLL position from 2024 until the end of the current school year. Yerkes has worked for the district for more than 25 years, including serving as the principal of Dzantik'i Heeni Middle School from 2010 to 2024, when she moved to the head job at TCLL.

This year’s principal at Harborview, Scott Jonsson, has been named the new principal at Montessori Borealis Public School and Yaakoosgé Daakahídi High School. He replaces John Paul, whose employment ended with the district after a March 5 incident where he allegedly threw a seventh-grade student to the ground and pinned the youth with his bodyweight, resulting in a charge of assault against him.

The other new principal named Friday is Laura Zimmerman at Thunder Mountain Middle School, where she is currently the vice principal. She replaced Arnold, who held the job until being named superintendent. Zimmerman has 18 years of experience teaching in the district and the Mayatan Bilingual School in Honduras, and six years’ experience as a middle school administrator, according to JSD’s announcement.

Other hires announced Friday are:

• Lyle Melkerson as assistant principal at Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé. He has been the district’s director of human resources for the past four years.

• Sybil Van Derhoff, who has 20 years of teaching and administrative leadership experience, as director of human resources to replace Melkerson.

• Kelley Harvey, who has 27 years of teaching experience, as director of teaching and learning support.

• Monica Buettel, a teacher and school psychologist with 25 years of experience, as director of student services.

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.