A Message from Superintendent James Everett
Dear staff, families and students,
I am happy to announce that Tyler Dockins will be the new principal at Irene Reither Elementary School beginning this fall. After an extensive search which began in early May and an interview process with staff and district leadership, we are confident Mr. Dockins will be a great principal at Irene Reither Elementary School.
Mr. Dockins grew up in Whatcom County and has strong connections to this community. He and his wife have two young children and live in Bellingham. Mr. Dockins is an experienced educator who believes children should be excited to attend school. He believes quality instruction creates more equitable outcomes for all students and seeks to establish strong relationships with staff and families to create the best educational experience for students. Mr. Dockins is known for being positive and student-focused. He builds strong relationships with students by showing them respect, setting high expectations and continually communicating his belief that they will be successful.
Mr. Dockins joins us from Bellingham Public Schools where he has been an instructional coach and principal designee at Kulshan Middle School since 2019. In that role, he founded a leadership team to build instructional capacity. He developed an onboarding series for new teachers to
coach and mentor instructional practice. He taught math at Shuksan Middle School from 2018-19. Prior to Bellingham, Mr. Dockins was the assistant principal of mathematics and science, dean of students and Special Education department chair for grades 5 through 12 at KIPP New Jersey for eight years. In this role, he worked with teachers to achieve results in a fast-paced, innovative environment by focusing on relationships, kids and families. He also led professional development of staff to deepen knowledge of state standards. From 2008-2010, he taught Special Education for Melvin E. Sine K-8 School in Glendale, Arizona.
Mr. Dockins has a bachelor’s degree in geography from the University of Washington and a master’s degree in education with a focus in Special Education from Arizona State University. He earned his administrative certification from the Danforth Educational Leadership Program at the University of Washington in 2020.
His administrative team will include Assistant Principal Trisha Norman, who has 20 years of experience in elementary education, and Instructional Dean Nate Beede, who is the current dean and has already established strong relationships with staff, families and students. While Mr. Dockins is new to the principal role, he has great leadership skills, instructional coaching and administrative experience as well as outstanding references. We are dedicated to fully supporting this new administrative team at Irene Reither Elementary School so that they will be successful and I have full confidence in Mr. Dockins’ leadership abilities.
Before school starts, families will be invited to meet and greet with the entire administrative team.
Please join me in welcoming and congratulating Mr. Dockins!
James