In a bittersweet moment, Garfield High School Principal Ted Howard II announced the he has accepted an offer to become the Chief Academic Officer (CAO) for the Tukwila School District, and will leave Garfield after serving 16 years as principal.

While he says that it was a difficult decision to make, Howard maintains that the move will allow him to address academic achievement gaps from a long-term systemic approach, rather than trying to address and correct academic deficiencies encountered by students long before they make it into high school.

Prior to Howard’s arrival, the school had a policy where older students (i.e. sophomores, juniors and seniors) had priority enrollment in math classes over underclassmen, even if they had failed the class two or three times before.

The changes began to work and Howard and his staff started to analyze and make changes to each department at the school in order to provide all students with a chance to succeed.

“I’ve always said to each and every student that walks through Garfield, this is your school, and your job is to make it better,” says Howard.