Ruth Medsker, who has served as interim Principal at West Seattle High School since last summer has been named to the position on a permanent basis by interim Superintendent Susan Enfield, Seattle Public Schools. Enfield shared her thoughts in a letter to the staff, students and families for the school.

Dear staff, students and families of West Seattle High School:
I am writing to let you know that Ms. Ruth Medsker, currently interim principal at West Seattle High, has been appointed principal for your school. Executive Director of Schools Aurora Lora consulted staff and families before recommending this appointment. We heard that Ms. Medsker has provided the school with strong leadership and she holds students and staff to high standards. Under her guidance, West Seattle High School has developed a more consistent schedule that facilitates increased focus on instruction. Staff are benefiting from a newly structured Professional Learning Community format, and the school is in the process of creating a registration process and master schedule that will work best for students.

Ms. Medsker has extensive administrative and classroom experience. She served for five years as an education director for Seattle Public Schools, during which time she directly supervised nine middle schools and 10 K‐8 schools in the district. She is also a former principal and assistant principal at Mercer Middle School. In addition, Ms. Medsker served as a math, reading, health and special education‐resource teacher at Whitman Middle School and as a special education‐emotional behavior disabilities teacher at McClure Middle School.

In 2004, Ms. Medsker received the Alliance for Education’s Thomas B. Foster Award for Excellence for outstanding leadership. She was also honored twice by the Association from Washington School Principals: as a Seattle Regional Distinguished Principal in 2004 and as a Seattle Regional Distinguished Assistant Principal in 2003.

Ms. Medsker’s professional preparation includes a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a Bachelor of Arts in Education from Washington State University and a Master of School Administration from Western Washington University.
I want to thank you and congratulate you on creating a positive and inclusive learning community at West Seattle High. I look forward to celebrating many future achievements with you as I know your school community will flourish under Ms. Medsker’s continued leadership.

Best wishes,

Susan Enfield, Ed.D.
Interim Superintendent

In another letter from the leadership team Craig Richardson offers his congratulations:

Dear Staff

The West Seattle High School staff, students and community are happy to say congratulations to Ruth Medsker in being retained as our official Principal at WSHS. I would personally like to say thank you again for all your hard work, dedication and excellent leadership in guiding us in the right direction for the future of WSHS.

Please join me in congratulating Ruth Medsker and reading the official letter attached to this e-mail from; Seattle Public Schools Susan Enfield, Ed. D. Interim Superintendent

Thanks, and congratulations!

Craig Richardson
BLT Chair / Activities Coordinator
Cdrichardson1@seattleschools.org

For her part, Medsker said, "I'm very excited to be part of the West Seattle Community permanently so we can continue to grow our school and make it the outstanding place that I know it is."