The Cheney School District has announced the hiring of a new nutrition services director and a new principal at Sunset Elementary School in Airway Heights.
In a June 5 news release, the district announced that it has hired former Centennial Middle School counselor Ty McGregor as principal at Sunset, and Jerald (LJ) Klinkenberg as its new nutrition services director. McGregor replaces former Sunset principal Matt Beal, who was selected in January by elementary school principals in the Northeast Washington region as one of 18 distinguished principals in the state for the 2014-2015 school year, while Klinkenberg replaces Brian Levy.
District associate superintendent Sean Dotson said Beal left to take the principal position at Spokane School District 81’s Ridgeview Elementary School while Levy left for a position with the state’s Department of Social and Health Services.
McGregor is a 2001 graduate of Whitworth University, receiving his master’s degree from the north Spokane school in 2005 and his principal certification from Washington State University. He taught third- and fourth-grade in the Ritzville School District before coming to Centennial in the West Valley School District in 2010.
“The teacher in me is passionate about the knowledge and skills kids are obtaining in preparation for their future,” McGregor wrote in his letter to the district’s hiring committee. “The counselor in me is driven to find pathways of success and remove barriers for all of my students. The leader in me knows it takes a community to truly elevate students to the next level, and the competitor in me is ready to step up to the challenge.”
Klinkenberg is a 2004 graduate of Eastern Washington University, receiving a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Gonzaga in 2006 as well as possessing numerous culinary arts certifications. He has worked the past three years as a consultant for Empire Health Foundation’s nutritional services program, and according to the release has been “instrumental in the development of the (Cheney) District’s ‘back-to-scratch’ program,” a program for which the district has received national recognition.
“I pride myself on being a working chef; there is not a duty I have not done, and will continue to do so to ensure overall success of the Nutrition Services program,” Klinkenberg said in his letter to the hiring committee.
Klinkenberg has also served as director and tenured faculty at Richland Community College in Decatur, Ill. for four years. He also has media experience, having appeared on national television networks and even hosting a radio talk show.
“We are very fortunate to have hired three top quality leaders to join our team next year,” Dotson said in an email noting the hiring in May of former Mead Middle School athletics director Gregg Hare as Cheney High School’s new athletics director.
“Ty McGregor’s experiences as both an elementary teacher and as a counselor give him the background to be a highly effective elementary principal,” Dotson said. “LJ Klinkenberg brings a wealth of experience as a chef, as well as a history of working with school districts to implement healthy breakfast and lunch options.”
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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