Heather L. Conn

Rae C. Stedman Elementary School
Petersburg School District
Petersburg, Alaska
[email protected]

Heather Conn is a firm believer in the power of shared leadership. As principal of Rae C. Stedman Elementary School for the last five years, Conn brings teachers and staff into the decision-making process at the ground level, an approach that has strengthened community trust and built collective accountability for ensuring that all students can reach their potential. After six years in special and early education classrooms as a teacher, Conn began her principalship career just before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Never shying away from a challenge, Conn leveraged the transition to remote learning to accelerate professional development and transition to a new math curriculum. She has also revitalized literacy instruction at Stedman, launching a new RTI program in anticipation of updated state standards before they were signed into law. Conn led the way by completing collaborative evaluations of student data, school leadership, and core and intervention curricula, incorporating community perspectives along the way. Then, she mobilized the resources necessary to expand teachers’ capacity to implement the newly shaped multi-tiered intervention plan. Early evaluations already show progress toward fulfilling the school’s goal of ensuring every student reads by third grade. Conn is a proud Stedman alumnus and native of Petersburg. She is pursuing a doctorate in School Psychology at Capella University and holds master’s degrees in Educational Leadership, Elementary Education K-8, and Special Education Prek-12 from the University of Alaska Southeast.