Steve Mezich, a former Rose Hill Junior High School principal, will return to Rose Hill as interim principal, the Lake Washington School District announced on Oct. 8.
This appointment follows the untimely death of Principal Jay Ellis on Sept. 28. Mezich will serve as principal of Rose Hill Junior High and Stella Schola Middle School, which shares its campus, for the remainder of the school year.
Mezich first came to the district as a teacher at Rose Hill Junior High in 1973. He became assistant principal at Redmond Junior High in 1978 and was promoted to principal in 1983.
He was transferred to Kamaikin Junior High in 1987 and served as principal there for 11 years. He transferred back to Rose Hill Junior High and served as its principal in 1998-99.
Mezich left the district to become the principal of St. Catherine School in Seattle, where he has served since the fall of 1999. St. Catherine’s, located in North Seattle, is a preschool through eighth grade school that is richly diverse.
Mezich will transition into this role at Rose Hill Junior High and will be working there full time by the end of October. Meanwhile, Director of School Support david Larson will assist Erin Bowser, who is assistant principal and Rebecca Dusseault, interim assistant principal, with providing school leadership.
In a phone interview on Oct. 7, we asked Larson how students were reacting to all the changes.
Larson remarked, “Last week was really pretty much devoted exclusively to dealing with the loss and creating a school-wide memorial and having a venue within the school where kids could share their feelings.”
That venue was the campus Commons.
“What we’ve seen this week is going back to the emphasis on school. Kids grieve but they go back to living life,” which is as it should be, he said.
“We had a wonderful technology tribute to Jay. A lesson learned is that when you involve kids in the planning, you get better results. … Everything was literally and figuratively orchestrated so well,” Larson added.
Rose Hill Junior High teacher Tom Charouhas also played a large role in the assembly celebrating Ellis’ life. He produced a photo montage with voiceovers from other faculty members.
