Washington Elementary School has new principal

STERLING – Nine years ago, longtime Dixon teacher Heidi Palmer and a fresh-faced educator named Lindsy Stumpenhorst were leaving class when Palmer said something very interesting to the young teacher.

"She looked at me and said, 'You will be a principal one day,'" Stumpenhorst said. "I laughed at her because I thought it was hysterical. Being a principal was not interesting to me."

The times have definitely changed.

Beginning July 1, Stumpenhorst will become the new principal at Washington Elementary School in Sterling.

The Sterling School Board signed off on the hire during their meeting Wednesday.

"I never thought in a million years I'd be where I am now," Stumpenhorst said. "Things have changed. [Heidi] can predict the future a little bit better than I can."

She will replace Steve Etheridge, who will leave the school after 1 year. He will become an elementary school principal in Moline, which is his hometown.

"I took a job as an elementary school principal in Moline so I could be closer to my family," Etheridge said. "The Sterling School District is a wonderful place to work and I appreciate everything they did for me during my time at Washington."

The Sterling School Board approved a 2-year contract for Stumpenhorst, which will pay her $70,000 a year. Etheridge currently makes $68,500, but would have made $70,000 if he stayed at Washington through the next school year.

Palmer, who is a third-grade teacher in the Dixon School District, said she saw something in Stumpenhorst 9 years ago that will help her succeed as a principal.

"She had the drive," Palmer said Wednesday. "She went way above and beyond what I asked her to do. You could definitely tell she wanted to succeed."

Palmer served as Stumpenhorst's mentor and the two have remained in contact through the years.

"After working with her, it was obvious to me that she would make a great principal," said Palmer, who has been a teacher for 25 years. "She has lots of energy and she came across as someone who wants to excel."

Stumpenhorst, a 2002 graduate of Ashton-Franklin Center High School in Ashton, began her teaching career in 2006 at the now-closed Lincoln Elementary School in Dixon.

She spent 5 years there before becoming a reading specialist at Reagan Middle School in Dixon. She also spent time as a sixth-grade language arts teacher while at Reagan.

Her time as a reading specialist made her realize she can reach many more students.

"When I was a reading specialist, I looked at the school as a whole instead of just my own classroom," she said. "I became interested in the school as a whole and I wanted to make a difference from that perspective instead of just in one classroom."

She earned her teaching certification from North Central College in Naperville and, later, her administration certification from Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais.

"I was able to keep teaching while I got that certification," she said. "I was part of a cohort program and we met at a high school in Oswego."

Stumpenhorst has spent the past year as the assistant principal at Challand Middle School.

She has been in the process of getting her feet wet and meeting with the staff and students at Washington.

"I want to see where Steve left off at the school," Stumpenhorst said. "I have to understand where we are at now in order to continue moving forward."

One of the biggest changes she will face is the age difference in her students. She spent the past year working with sixth-through eighth-graders. At Washington, she'll work with third-grade to fifth-graders.

"I started teaching third-graders and I have experience working with elementary students," she said. "It takes some time for the middle school students to earn your trust, but when I met the Washington students, they were smiling and they trust you instantly."

In other business at Wednesday's meeting, local business owner Paul Sandefer claimed his spot on the Sterling School Board at Wednesday's meeting.

Sandefer, 46, owner and president of Compliancesigns.com, a safety sign manufacturer, defeated longtime board member James “Jay” Van Horn during the April 7 election.

Next meeting

The Sterling School Board will next meet at 7 p.m. May 27 in the Sterling High School library, 1608 Fourth Ave.

For more information, go to sterlingpublicschools.org or call the school district's central office at 815-626-5050.