Amie Fahey – Image and Child Development teacher

Job Description: Amie teaches Image and Child Development classes, part of the CTE (Career and Technolgy education) department at Mercer Island High school. Amie’s students learn about overall health & wellness including: diseases, CPR, alcohol & drug abuse, nutrition, coping skills, sex education and depression. She also teaches Yoga at the high school.


Location: Mercer Island High School

Typical Day: Amie starts her day at 10 am (she is a part-time teacher) and spends an hour and a half or so in her office planning, grading and making phone calls to guest speakers. She says there are “many professionals in our community who enjoy speaking to the students.” Recently the class heard a speaker from the Anti-Defamation League talk about Internet safety. Amie then teaches an Image class and her Yoga class in the afternoon. She usually leaves at 3:30 pm.

Best part of the job: “I love everything about my job! I have great people to work with and great kids to teach.”

Something people may not know: Teaching Yoga is one of the most difficult aspects of Amie’s job. “It is very difficult to help my students just ‘turn off.’ They are so used to the constant stimulation with cell phones and technology that they don’t know how to just do nothing and clear their thoughts.”

Years worked in the district: This is Amie’s 2nd year of teaching.

Outside interests: Her family! Amie and her husband Chris have two children, Abby and Eli, both students at West Mercer. They love the outdoors and enjoy boating, waterskiing, tennis and going to Lake Chelan.

Steve Baird – Maintenance Engineer/District Electrician

Job Description: Steve is one of three Maintenance Engineers in the district. He is officially the district’s electrician, but works in all aspects of maintenance including carpentry, window glazing, signage, plumbing, HVAC and more.

Location: The Maintenance Shop near Central Administration

Typical Day: Steve starts his day at 6 am to work in the buildings before anyone arrives. He takes care of lighting issues, including changing bulbs or wiring and works his way through a daily “punch list” of jobs that need to get done. It is Steve you see driving around in the white truck with the “boom” on top. Before the district got the truck, Steve used to work on the parking lot lights with a ladder. “It got a little scary sometimes,” he said. In the afternoon, he goes back to the office to complete paperwork, check his emails and go over his list of work orders for the next day. He leaves at 2:30 pm.

Best part of the job: No day is ever the same and I get to see all of my girls’ activities.

Something people may not know: There are no “subs” in maintenance, so each engineer needs to be able to fill in for the other. This past year Steve has worked on everything from remodeling the Superintendent’s office, to converting the lighting in the portables to energy saving lights, to building covered roofs for the dug outs at the South Mercer field. He also did cement work at West Mercer.

Years worked in the district: 29 years. Steve graduated from Mercer Island High School in 1980 and started driving a school bus. Then he got the job in maintenance and has been here ever since.

Outside interests: Steve and his wife Chris have 3 daughters – Caitlin, MacKenzie and Haley, all at Mercer Island High School. The family enjoys the outdoors, particularly boating on Lake Washington, and Steve likes to ride his bicycle, ski and work on his various remodeling projects.

Cindy Weber – Learning Support Paraprofessional

Job Description: Cindy works with small groups of children from kindergarten through 5th grade who need extra help learning to read.

Location: Island Park

Typical Day: Every 30 minutes Cindy meets with a different group of 3-5 children in various locations throughout the school. With kindergartners, she often works on phonemic awareness; 1st graders, phonics and site words, and with older children, fluency, comprehension and writing.

Best part of the job: “It is never boring or repetitive. I particularly enjoy the challenge of figuring out how to help a child who isn’t learning, or struggling with reading in some way. I am fortunate to be able to work with the wonderful staff at Island Park.

Years worked in the district: 10

Outside interests: Cindy enjoys reading, cooking and travel. Every year she trains for two different walking half-marathons with a group called, “Team Transplant”, a group of transplant recipients, their friends and families. Cindy’s brother is an organ transplant recipient.

Fred Rundle – Principal of Lakeridge Elementary School

Job Description: Fred is new to Lakeridge this year, taking over for Ralph Allen who retired in June. Fred is the first line of support for students, staff and parents. His primary responsibility is to make sure Lakeridge is a safe and welcoming school so that students learn everyday. He works hard to engage all stakeholders in the school community on the same goal – student learning.

Location: Lakeridge

Typical Day: According to Fred, “There isn’t one! That is why I love this job.” He often begins the day with a before school meeting with staff and/or parents to discuss student learning, reflect on school practices and improvement plans. He then greets the children and walks through the halls. Then, he may be in another meeting before lunch. He is present in the lunchroom and visits classrooms as often as possible. Everyday is prioritized according to students’ needs, which is why it is never the same. After school, Fred may have more meetings before he catches up on his email.

Best part of the job: “The times I still get to teach, both children and adults.”

Something people may not know: Fred taught elementary school for 5 years and high school for 1 year before he became an elementary school principal.

Years worked in the district: Just started.

Outside interests: Fred and his family moved to the area from Colorado where he most recently worked as an elementary school principal in the Douglas County School District. He and his wife Dana enjoy boating and camping with their two young children. Fred and Dana met while they were undergraduates at the University of Puget Sound and vowed that they would live in the Northwest someday. We are glad they did!

Dean Mack – Executive Director of Business Services and Human Resources

Job Description: Dean manages MISD Finances, Human Resources, Maintenance, Transportation, Food Services, Construction as well as Bonds and Levies. He is new to the district as of July 2009 and has more than 30 years of management expertise in public school systems. He comes to us from the Issaquah School District, where he worked for 10 years.

Location: Central Office

Typical Day: Dean often starts his day at 6:30 am, using the quiet time to respond to email. This week he is spending a lot of time with the installation of a new field turf for the high school stadium. He typically meets with the construction management team, and then goes to visit with Keith Ellis, Maintenance, or Todd Kelsay, Transportation. He works with the City of Mercer Island concerning inter-local agreements for the South Mercer fields or the High School stadium. He handles enrollment and staffing issues for the schools and “a million little things” every day.  It is Dean’s job to know all of the facilities in the district and work with the facilities planning team and building staff on long-term facility planning and maintenance of our buildings.

Best part of the job: “I love all of my job, but the best part is working with people to solve problems.”

Years worked in the district: Just started.

Something people may not know: MISD has a 40 million dollar operating budget and holds 4% in reserve to cover the highs and lows in cash flow over the year. We are one of the few districts in the state with a AA bond rating.

Outside interests: Dean enjoys spending time with his 5 year-old grandson and golfing, although he says he isn’t very good. He also likes visiting the many interesting communities around Puget Sound.

Erin Anderson – Payroll Coordinator, District Administration

Job Description: Erin is MISD’s new Payroll Coordinator, taking over for Dianne Hoelscher, who is retiring on September 30. Erin is responsible for making sure everyone gets paid! Plus, she handles insurance and benefits, IRS reporting, COBRA insurance, Labor & Industries, unemployment and more. Working with the Department of Retirement systems is one of her main job duties.

Location: Central Office

Typical Day: Erin begins her day checking email and voice mails to respond to employee questions about salary and benefits.  Then she processes time sheets and continues to work on the complete implementation of sub on-line. September is a particularly busy month in Payroll because of all the changes in employee contracts.

Best part of the job: “I love working with people and helping our employees with their questions and concerns.”

Something people may not know: According to Dianne Hoelscher, “Since we are a small district, the Payroll Coordinator must stay current on all the rules and regulations involved in insurance and benefits, L&I, IRS etc. Bigger districts have a person for each one of those functions.”

Years worked in the district: Just started.

Outside interests: Erin has just moved to Issaquah from Lewiston, Idaho.  She and her husband Chris are looking forward to boating and taking advantage of the shopping and entertainment available in the big city.