By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
After more than a decade as principal of Keet Gooshi Heen Elementary, Casey Demmert is retiring, and Mindy Barry, the school’s learning support coordinator, will take the position, the Sitka School District announced Monday.
Demmert’s career with the school district began in 1998 as a physical education teacher at Blatchley Middle School, a position he held for seven years before becoming assistant principal at Blatchley. After five years he moved on to Keet.
Barry, 44, has been at Keet for eight years, initially as a fourth- and second-grade teacher, then as a reading interventionist before becoming the school’s learning support coordinator.
Casey Demmert and Mindy Barry are joined by Keet Gooshi Heen Elementary School students on the playground this afternoon. (Sentinel Photo)
She said she’s been studying in preparation for her new job as principal.
“The past two years I’ve been interning under Mr. Demmert for my admin program and I really have had the opportunity to really see the inner workings… (as well as) collaborating with other staff members on building our positive behaviors systems and those systems that we have in place to support our social emotional needs and academic needs for our students,” Barry said in an interview this morning.
The best aspect of her work at KGH, she said, is the time she spends with kids.
“Definitely the most rewarding piece is obviously the kids, the students,” she said. “Being able to see them on the playground, in the classroom, just being able to be a part of their everyday routine.”
Her new job at Keet will come with its share of challenges, she said, particularly the school’s ongoing shortage of substitute teachers.
When classroom teachers are out, it’s sometimes necessary to rearrange and cancel reading intervention groups, and she and the reading interventionist have had to work in the classroom, Barry said.
“I don’t mind subbing at all, it’s actually quite fun... but it’s just initially difficult to kind of rearrange the schedule of the day and try to make sure everything is covered when we have a lack of people here.”
She said her positions as reading interventionist and learning support coordinator primed her for the principal job, and she feels well prepared for the transition.
She hopes to maintain “open communication and really (make) sure that the new students – especially our second graders coming up from Baranof– feel welcomed, invited into Keet’s community.”
Barry learned she got the principal job around 1:30 p.m. Monday, a few hours before the district’s public announcement of the changes.
“My cheeks were hurting from smiling, because I’m super excited for this opportunity, so it was hard to really not give it away,” she said.
Demmert, like Barry, said he most enjoys working with small children.
“The kids are definitely a highlight,” the veteran educator told the Sentinel this morning. “This is just a really fun age to work with. Kids are excited about being at school and excited about learning new things… When there’s times where, you know, you’re struggling with different parts of the job. I always just try to remind myself, ‘Go hang out with the kids for a while.’ And that makes things better. I’ve had the opportunity to work with some amazing staff members over the years.”
The pandemic years were especially difficult, but the whole school met the challenge effectively, he said.
“One of the things that I feel pretty proud about was the way people came together,” Demmert said. “We had a committee of people that worked throughout the summer figuring out how we could do school at the height of the pandemic. We ended up putting every teacher we had, except two specialists, back into the classrooms, so we can have those small class sizes and space everybody out six feet apart.”
Just last week, the School Board approved a budget for the coming school year that preserves all teaching positions at Keet. Two of the budget options originally on the table would have eliminated more than one full-time classroom positions at the school.
“That’ll just allow her a smoother transition,” Demmert said of Barry’s year ahead. “It gives us an idea now of what we have to work with. Now that the budget is passed and we’ll be bringing back the staff that we had this year.”
Barry’s experience as learning support coordinator and her years of internship will be an advantage as she becomes principal, Demmert said.
“It’s going to be a pretty smooth transition as far as transitions go, because Mindy’s been working in the building for years,” he said. “And the kids know her, the staff know her and I think it’s going to be just a great opportunity for her to put her skill sets to work.”
Demmert, who recently turned 51, said that after his retirement from the school district he plans to remain in Sitka – his hometown – and work at Alaska Airlines.
