Seattle Public Schools

Ms. Jolene Grimes is a proud member of the Makah Tribe and the Tom and Hazel Parker family of Neah Bay, WA. Ms. Grimes has two beautiful children, Zia-Daye (16) a junior in high school and Delvon Anderson (13) a seventh grader in middle school. When Ms. Grimes is not working, she enjoys running her children all over the city for a variety of sports (volleyball, basketball, football, track), she enjoys camping, fishing, beading, spending time near the water and being around her family and friends. Her most treasured place is being back home on her reservation amongst nature and near the ocean.  

Ms. Grimes was most recently a principal leader in the Northshore School District, enjoying roles as a principal, assistant principal and interim principal within secondary education. Prior to her roles in NSD, she was a principal at Neah Bay Jr./Sr. High and Markishtum Middle School in the Cape Flattery School District, after leaving Nathan Hale and the Seattle Public Schools before the pandemic. Ms. Grimes has dedicated much of her professional career to serving in SPS at Madrona K-8, Wing Luke Elementary, Thurgood Marshall Elementary, Pathfinder K-8, Madison Middle School, and Nathan Hale High School as student teacher, certificated teacher, house administrator, school intervention specialist, assistant principal, co-principal, and principal. Ms. Grimes proudly says … Seattle will always be her home and community.  

From her perspective, there is not a better place to be than in Seattle Schools - serving a community you love and care about to ensure all students become honorable, skillful, thinking global citizens who positively contribute to their school and local community. Ms. Grimes finds joy in seeing students thrive being their authentic selves. She takes her responsibility as a leader personally and strives to make connections with all students and families for student success beyond high school.  

She views it an honor to come back home to Hale as principal. She looks forward to being in community with students, staff, families and all NHHS stakeholders to develop a strong partnership and community so all students and staff feel welcomed, safe, and valued. 

Ensuring all student become honorable, skillful, thinking, global, citizens.  

I was born in the Philippines and came to California when I was 7. I’ve lived in Cali, Oklahoma and Minnesota. Now Washington. Love it here and don’t think we’ll leave. I have two lovely dogs and a husband. I enjoy hiking, camping, running, kayaking, and painting. My favorite animal is an alpaca. I earned my Master’s of Speech-Language Pathology at MSU, Mankato and have worked as a SLP for six years (3 years with pre-k to 12th grade at a school district in MN, 1 year at a children’s pediatric clinic in Renton, WA, and this is my third year here at SPS).

Looking forward to being part of the John Hay family too! 😊