Principal Brenda Conrad is resigning. Her last day will be June 30, 2025.
“This was a hard decision to make but this was a personal decision for me,” Conrad said in a meeting with staff members on March 14. She has been the principal since the 2022-2023 school year, following Jeff Larson’s four-year tenure.
The meeting was held in the library. Upon asking if I could attend the meeting for which the door was locked, Mrs. English refused to let me enter the meeting to report on it. I asked several teachers after the meeting and only Mrs. Ashmon was willing to comment on Conrad’s resignation. “Wishing her the best on her new adventure,” Ashmon said.
Thankfully, we were able to speak with Conrad on Monday, March 17. Shortly after her official message went out via email.
“It was a very difficult decision, because this is such a great school, but its a decision that I came to of really thinking about my career, where I’m at, where I’m going, and it was a very, very difficult decision… GP really pushed me as a leader. I have learned so many things by being here and I’m grateful for all of that and so I think that’s a piece where I want to continue to grow and be a leader that is really focused and strong in terms of how I’m leading a building holistically for all the different parts of it, I don’t know how to say it, like it was something that I really felt I needed to do for myself was to move to a new building and I don’t know what that’s going to be yet. So that’s kind of the exciting part. It’s a little scary, but its also exciting because there’s an opportunity around the corner that if I didn’t take this leap of faith, I wouldn’t know about,” Conrad said.
Despite only being principal for three years, Conrad was still very easily able to pick out her favorite memory from her time as principal, “Homecoming is of course on the top of the list. Our Homecomings here are off the charts, the number of students that participate in everything from the daily activities, the dress ups , the assemblies, the royalty court, the dance, it’s so all-encompassing that I think Homecoming rises to the top of one of those events that we do here that really truly includes everyone in the building,” Conrad said.
The process for hiring a new principal will begin soon. It involves meetings with the superintendent and committees at the school district, student, and staff opinions, and then the superintendent and the committee decide who will fill the shoes for the position. “I wanted to make sure that my decisions didn’t hinder anything here at school. I wanted to make sure that I took care of the school and the community and the students, and this is the timeline for hiring is in the spring. March, April, May, is the best times, and I didn’t want to be putting the school in a position where if I found something late it makes it hard to hire someone here,” Conrad said.
“I just appreciate being here, I’ve enjoyed leading and serving here. I truly have and I hope that people see that part that I really have tried to do my best to serve the school and the student community,” Conrad said closing out the interview.
This is an ongoing story; updates will be posted as candidates are announced.