The new superintendent of Latham Elementary School strives to be a role model young students.
The Latham R-V School District welcomes Tracey Bieri as its new superintendent. As a resident of the area, Bieri hopes to help her community as she takes this new step in her career.
With the departure of former Superintendent Jordan Hoecker, the district looked to fill this position before the new school year. Seeing the opportunity to help provide service to students and teachers, Bieri applied.
Having a degree in administration coupled with her time teaching, Bieri feels that she can help bring a positive impact to her town. As the new school year approaches, Bieri said she's excited to get to know her new students, staff and faculty.
"The thing I'm most excited about is just getting to work with the staff, the teachers and the kids, of course," Bieri said. After 15 years in a second grade classroom, I feel I can bring that experience into the school. I'm excited to share my experience with (the staff and students), learn from theirs and then just work together as a team to hopefully keep things going and keep it growing."
According to Bieri, she's been a part of the Latham community for some time. After moving onto her husband's family farm she fell in love with the town and expressed she wanted to give back to the community through education, something she had always been invested in.
"I had little cousins that we always would babysit...and just seeing how much they looked up to you as a role model and how much they soak in and wanted to be just like you - that kind of put that thought (of education) in there," Bieri said. "And then I love learning, myself. I know the power of role models and teachers and helping the future generations. So that's why I wanted to go into teaching."
Bieri notified the Democrat of the 10-year anniversary of the Latham Elementary School building. According to her, the district has a long and storied history within the area and will be doing itsbest to celebrate it. During Latham Elementary's "Back to School Night" on Aug. 19, faculty and staff will put on an event commemorating its past.
She said the history of the school is "pretty cool." The community has built it three times, because it burned twice.
"It's pretty fascinating - the (school's) history and how this small town came together to not let it die out," she said. "Rebuilding it, building it again and haven't given up on it."
Bieri would like to say welcome back to families and students as they enter into the new school year. She said she and the Latham staff and faculty will work hard to provide students a solid educational foundation.
"(I'd like the community to know) what a special community they have. We're excited to have them back and I'm excited to be part of their community," Bieri said. "We'll keep working hard to provide a safe learning environment."
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