Staff Celebrations
Principal of Denny International Middle School receives award for outstanding leadership
The Alliance for Education and Seattle Public Schools announced this week that Jeff Clark, principal of Denny International Middle School, is the recipient of the Thomas B. Foster Award for Excellence for his outstanding leadership at the school.
The award is given to an exceptional secondary school principal and includes a $50,000 grant to support student success at the principal’s school. Clark, in his sixth year at Denny Middle, led the effort to bring an international program to his school, which includes classes in Mandarin Chinese, Arabic and Spanish. Under his leadership, Denny’s test scores are going up. Last year, Clark said, Denny improved more than any other middle school or K-8 in the district. Clark said he plans to use the $50,000 prize to buy one book for every student to recognize their hard work, to purchase musical instruments, and to start an endowment fund that can be used to help pay field-trip or other fees.
Previous award winners were Garfield High Principal Ted Howard in 2010, Ballard High Principal Phil Brockman in 2009 and Madrona K-8 Principal Kaaren Andrews in 2008.
Tom Foster, founder of the law firm Foster Pepper and a Seattle civic leader, was deeply committed to helping the Seattle community and was passionate about education issues. When he passed away in 1999 at the age of 84, community members established a fund with the Alliance in his honor to recognize and support secondary school principals