Garden Heights gets new assistant principal

MOSES LAKE — Cheri Ward is bringing a lot of a experience to her new job.

Ward, who is currently the instructional coach at Park Orchard Elementary School, has been teaching for more than a decade, and has spent much of that time either teaching or leading programs designed to help prepare the very youngest children for school.

“The best part of it is being able to impact student learning, and to help teachers look at student needs,” Ward said.

This coming July, Ward will start as the new assistant principal at Garden Heights — the largest elementary school in the district — with her primary job overseeing that school’s fifth-grade classes, which are being moved to module classrooms on the Chief Moses Middle School campus beginning this fall.

A native of the tiny town of Ashton, Idaho, Ward earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Idaho State University in Pocatello. After that, she was a Head Start teacher in Boise and ran infant and toddler programs for schools in Idaho before marriage brought her to Moses Lake in 2002.

“My husband Michael was born and raised in Moses Lake,” Ward said. “He’s a construction electrician, and he works on the big jobs in Quincy, working on data centers.”

As the instructional coach at Park Orchard, Ward said she has supported both staff and teachers in their work, and has overseen district and state tests at the school. She will also serve as principal of elementary summer school for the entire district this summer.

“Being an administrator was always on my radar,” Ward said. “I bring a broad range of skills. I know what students and teachers need.”

Despite the fact she will be primarily overseeing the fifth grade at Garden Heights, Ward said she will be working closely with the entire Garden Heights team.

“I will apply my skills as a coach and support teachers in the craft,” Ward said of her new job at Garden Heights. “I’m looking forward to getting started. I’m honored and humbled to be putting my skills to use to benefit the students.”

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.