New Principal announced for TCLL

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Friday, May 26, 2023 at 12:04 AM

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Juneau, Alaska (KINY) - The Juneau School District (JSD) is pleased to announce that Eldri Westmoreland has been chosen as the first permanent principal for the Tlingit Culture, Language and Literacy (TCLL) program.

TCLL is a place-based, cultural-based JSD optional program where the Tlingit language and culture are celebrated, respected, and integral to daily instruction of national standards.

It is housed in Harborview Elementary School and operated in partnership with Sealaska Heritage Institute.

TCLL is free and open to students of all races, nationalities, and abilities in kindergarten up to the 7th grade.

An 8th grade class will be added for the 2024/25 school year.

Each room has a classroom teacher, a Tlingit language teacher, and an Elder working together with the students.

Westmoreland is currently a Culturally Responsive Instructional Coach, Mathematics Teacher and STEAM-Ethnomathematics Mentor Teacher/Curriculum Developer at the Juneau School District.

She is owner/director of Math Raven, an Indigenous Education research and curriculum firm.

She also served as Adjunct Faculty at the University of Alaska Southeast and has been a CORE Support Lead Teacher, Instructional Coach, and classroom teacher in Juneau.

Before joining JSD in 2009, she worked for Department of Defense Education Activity, teaching at Geilenkirchen Elementary School in Germany and working at Child Development Centers in Izmir, Turkey and Mountain Home AFB Idaho.

The Juneau School District began a nationwide search for candidates earlier in the school year.

The school district interviewed candidates in an open session on Tuesday, May 23.

An interview panel of representatives from the school’s certificated staff, classified staff and district administration conducted the interviews.

Written comments were accepted from the public during the interview process.

The panel then made a recommendation to Dr. Bridget Weiss, Superintendent of the Juneau School District.

Westmoreland is a PhD student in Indigenous Studies, Education: University of Alaska Fairbanks.

She holds a Master of Arts in Mathematics Education, K-6: from Western Governors University in Missouri and a Bachelor of Science in Education, K-8: from the University of Central Oklahoma.

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