Once a Mountaineer, always a Mountaineer. For the first 13 of her 21 years in education, Jamie Wells taught second, third and fourth grade at Ethan Allen Elementary. Beginning January of this year, Wells now serves as the new principal at the very same school where she began her teaching career.
After her teaching career, she served as a district instructional coach, GATE program supervisor and, most recently, the principal at Stanford Elementary.
“It was a big change and a surprise,” Wells said. “I feel really blessed to be able to come back to Ethan Allen and be with the staff that I have known for a very long time.”
As a principal, Wells aims to address three district wide goals: academic support, social-emotional personal skills and lifelong success. She hopes to combine her experience as a teacher and district coach to lead Allen.
“I never thought I would leave being a teacher because I loved working with kids,” Wells said. “As a principal now, I get to work with the teachers and the kids. The best part of being a principal is being able to create goals for your school site and seeing them through.
In addition to the school’s stellar academics, Wells identified the instrumental, choir and Disney Musical Theater programs as key aspects of the Allen community. Allen also hosts a “CLIMB Time” program, where students can periodically explore various elective-like classes in areas such as robotics, photojournalism and other passion projects.
Since she began her career as a principal during the pandemic, Wells hopes to involve herself in Allen’s various activities to outreach and be visible within the community while enhancing school culture.
“Even though I did teach here, I am still coming into a new school,” Wells said. “Part of my goals is to relearn Allen from a different perspective. “I hope to build relationships with the teachers, students, parents and the community.”
In the future, Wells is looking forward to Allen’s Finding Nemo production next year. She also plans to introduce a promotion ceremony for sixth grade and kindergarten along with a family lunch picnic.
Outside of school, Wells and her husband spend time shuffling their two sons between soccer, rugby, football and jiu-jitsu practices. She also enjoys reading, traveling and photography.
Wells offers one piece of advice to students as they progress through their education.
“Just keep doing your best working,” Wells said. “Don’t give up. Life gets hard, but you just have to keep moving.”