The Haines Borough School District has hired two new teachers for the 2017-2018 school year, and will also have a visiting student teacher through winter break.
Jordan Baumgartner will teach middle school math and science, replacing longtime teacher Patty Brown. Baumgartner grew up in Dillingham and said he and his wife, Keely, have wanted to move to Haines for years and have visited almost every summer. He said his wife grew up here and just recently got a job at the local SEARHC clinic. The couple have two young children, ages 3 and 6.
This will be Baumgartner’s 11th year teaching. He spent seven years teaching in Anchorage and three years in Colorado. He said he is excited to get to know the community, and bring the community into the classroom through place-based education. Place-based education focuses on the local community, cultures and environment.
“I want to incorporate Native education,” Baumgartner said.
Outside of work, Baumgartner said he enjoys being a dad and spending time outside. “Haines is the mecca for athletics,” he said.
Ramie Carlson will take over as the kindergarten teacher for Haines Elementary School. This will be Carlson’s second year in the classroom after teaching for a year in Bristol Bay.
“I’m excited to be back home in Southeast,” said Carlson, who grew up in Juneau.
She said she has already met several students that will be in her class this year and, like Baumgartner, wants to incorporate place-based learning into the curriculum.
Carlson said she enjoys spending time with her 3-year-old daughter, hiking, fishing and running.
Haley Stout will assist first grade teacher Sophia Armstrong until winter break. She is finishing her last year at the University of Alaska Anchorage and should graduate in May with a degree in early childhood education. After graduation, Stout said she plans to move to Sitka with her fiancé.
Stout grew up in Haines and went to Haines School through fifth grade before switching to home schooling and moving north with her family. She said she is looking forward to learning more about classroom management with Armstrong.
School starts Aug. 22 in Haines.