Brentwood bids adieu to beloved principal

Andrea Roberts
Times Intern

 

Fun, dedicated and the voice of Brentwood Elementary School are some of the ways staff and friends use to describe Laurie Huntley, who at the end of the school year will retire from an almost 40-year-long career in education.
“There came a time,” said Huntley, principal of Brentwood Elementary School. “In the past year I just got two lovely grandchildren, I just decided to work less and play more. I think I am still going to stay connected in various ways to education.”
Huntley began her career teaching in Rockyford where she found herself under the mentorship of two teachers, Ken and Grace Wong. She eventually applied for the associate principal position at Brentwood in 1989, because of the advice of one of her mentors, Dr. Gary McKinnon, then Golden Hills School District Superintendent. In 1998 she became the principal of the elementary school and has poured her passion and personality into the school.
“She has always put the school and the students and the staff first before herself,” said Shaunna Muenchrath, a secretary for the school who has worked with Huntley for nearly 14 years.
“She is very dedicated to the school. She ate bugs for the school, she has been duct-tapped to the wall twice for fundraising for the school and she camped out on the school roof one night then woke up in the morning and sprayed the kids with a water gun.”
Her jokes and pranks may be one of her lasting legacies but so is the care and dedication she had for the students that have come through the school’s doors.
A passion for education and a love for children got her into the field, but they have continued to be the force for her to do all the things she has done to improve the school and push the students to be the best they can be. Under her administration, Brentwood and its students have undergone many changes. These changes are the most exciting parts of Huntley’s job, and will be the hardest part to leave behind. However, she knows that now it the time for her to move on to the next phase of her life where she hopes to indulge in some of the hobbies she hasn’t had much time for, such as playing golf or reading late into the evening. Yet she hopes to stay involved perhaps coming back to sub because she misses the students, or perhaps one day becoming a trustee as she believes this will be one way she can continue to ensure the students of Brentwood have the best possible start for the future.
Laurie Motley, one of the teachers who worked with Huntley for roughly 30 years and, who has been on the receiving end of many of her pranks said: “We will miss her and there is going to be a huge gap in our school when she is gone.”