There are now two principals in the Ellis family. While Angela Ellis continues to serve as principal at Gateway Middle School in Meadow Lake, her husband, Chris, recently took on the top job at nearby Jonas Samson Middle School. Ellis officially took on the role Friday, May 1 following the retirement of now former principal Daryl Pearson. “Daryl’s last day was April 30, and the job was posted a couple weeks prior to that,” Ellis told Northern Pride. “I’d been at Jonas as vice-principal going on 14 or 15 years, so I know the school and I know the direction we want to go in. There have been a lot of changes at Jonas Samson in recent years, and I thought I could perhaps help keep the stability and help keep us going in the right direction here.”
Ellis began his teaching career in 2002. “Every year I have taught at the middle school level,” he said. “I taught at Jonas Samson my very first year, then taught for one year at Green Acre School in Rapid View before five years in the classroom teaching Grade 5 at Gateway Middle School. I moved over here to Jonas as vice-principal after that and have been here ever since.” Ellis also said, while not necessarily unique, it is beneficial to now have two principals in the family. “We bounce ideas off each other, that’s for sure,” he said. “And, with us both being principals at middle schools, we kind of go through the same sort of things as far as questions about issues we have or things we have going up, things students need or would like. We share ideas and, funny enough, there are also things different between our schools, a lot of which is based on what students like and what the staff likes as well. We also have some friendly competition between the schools, especially when it comes to extracurricular activities, so it makes it pretty fun.”
Looking ahead, Ellis said he is looking forward to the challenge his new position will bring. “I’ve been here for a while and I have worked for several good principals – Daryl having been my fourth,” he said. “I have learned a lot from those principals and the mark they have left on the school, but I also have a lot of ideas swirling around in my head right now in terms of different things I would like to try.” He went on to say he would like to continue to build Jonas Samson. “We went through a big shift a few years back when we switched from a junior high school to a middle school,” Ellis added. “That took some adjusting, but I think we’re now getting to a point where we’ve become a better school. The goal in the end is to make it so all students want to come to school and you want Jonas Samson to be the place they want to be at.”
In closing, Ellis said he is excited about the opportunity. “I have lots of ideas and I really look forward to building relationships with lots of people in the community,” he said. “I’ve been involved with the community quite a bit, but it will be nice to build those relationships at the school level too.” Meanwhile, in addition to Pearson’s recent retirement, the Northwest School Division also recently announced the retirement of Pearson’s wife, teacher Andrea Pearson, and long-time Carpenter High School teacher Curtis Paylor.