DoDEA

Shelly M. Kennedy

SEOUL — March 8, 2010 — Career educator Shelly M. Kennedy will open the new Casey Elementary School in August 2010 as its inaugural principal, DoDEA officials announced today.
Currently serving as the assistant principal of Nile C. Kinnick High School in Yokosuka, Japan, Kennedy began her career in 1990 as a science teacher in Ponca City, Okla.
Kennedy joined DoDEA in 2001 as a Specialized Science Instructor and held teaching assignments in Bahrain, Germany and England before joining the Kinnick HS team as the AP in 2006. She holds a bachelor’s degree in secondary science education from Oklahoma State University and a master’s in educational leadership from the University of Cincinnati.
DoDEA Korea Superintendent Dr. Irby Miller said Kennedy is the right choice to head Casey ES because “of her leadership style, dedication to student academic achievement, and impressive focus on continuous school improvement.”
Kennedy will be responsible for staffing, outfitting and finalizing preparations for the new preK-8 school located approximately 40 miles north of Seoul on U.S. Army Garrison Casey.
The projected fall enrollment for Casey ES is 230 students with another wing scheduled to open in summer 2011 to expand capacity to 600. The students will be primarily from families assigned to USAG-Red Cloud and the USAG-Casey Enclave in Area I–home to key elements of the U.S. Army’s 2nd Infantry Division.
DoDDS schools first opened on the Korean peninsula in 1946, but Casey ES will be the first-ever DoD school in Area I. Casey ES is also one of the many new DoD schools scheduled to open over the next decade to meet the growing number of command-sponsored families coming to South Korea under the Army’s tour normalization initiative.
Kennedy said in a phone interview that she is excited for the opportunity to cultivate new traditions, “I’m just really looking forward to getting there as soon as I can and working with the community.”