I became your Loyal Heights Elementary principal in November 2019. Every day, I am excited and enthusiastic about working together with our unbelievable students, staff, and community. My goal is to provide a rigorous education and a positive and safe space for all. I believe in a whole-child approach for every student. This means that it is both proactive and responsive to the academic and meets social-emotional. This job is important, challenging, filled with learning, and exceptionally fun and rewarding.
During the 2021-22 school year, among other efforts, I look forward to identifying and supporting students both academically and socially emotionally through our Multi-Tiered System and Supports (MTSS) process. This is especially important as students have been out of a normal year cycle of growth dating back to March 2020. I also look forward to partnering with staff, students, and the community to help our school collectively build a positive school environment. That includes being culturally responsive, inclusive, and focused on successful outcomes.
Please read my Principal Communicator emails that are sent once a week. Additionally, you can contact me via email, set up an appointment with the main office. You can also join me at one of our many community outreach events, or simply stop by to say hello when you are at Loyal Heights. Thank you for your involvement in our school and community. We are all part of the village it will take to support our young scholars.
My name is Michelle Pentecost, and I am so excited to be joining the Lincoln team! I grew up in Louisiana, but after graduating from high school I moved to New York City to attend Columbia University, where I majored in English and Education. After college, I taught English at a public high school in the Bronx before moving to Seattle. Most of my career has been spent in Federal Way, where I taught high school English and Theatre for 9 years before moving to the FWPS district office where I served as the facilitator for all K-12 Fine Arts programs (Music, Theatre, Visual Arts, and Dance). As a teacher, I love when I get to see students have “a ha!” moments when they understand a difficult concept or make real world connections to the materials that we are studying. I believe that strong reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills are essential for all students, regardless of the career paths that they will choose to pursue, and I enjoy working with students who from a diversity of backgrounds and interests. As a resident of the Wallingford neighborhood, I am especially excited to take on the unique project of re-opening a historic school which will have a lasting impact on the place where my family has put down roots. I have a son who has just entered kindergarten at John Stanford and will be a Lincoln Lynx in only 9 short years! When I am not in the classroom, I enjoy reading, cross stitching, and watching terrible sci fi movies.
