McMurray Middle School has never had an assistant principal, until now.

Earlier this month, the Vashon Island School District board approved the hiring of Juanita “Winnie” McGilton. She will join principal Greg Allison at the island’s public middle school at the beginning of the 2017-18 school year.

Allison said he is excited to have McGilton join him as, for the past five or six years, the school has averaged about 400 students each year, up from the average of roughly 350 that the school held when he started 13 years ago. That, in addition to the district’s PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Support) and social-emotional learning initiatives, as well as restorative justice discipline program require more time and attention, Allison said.

“The role of education is definitely expanding and becoming more complex, “ he said. “Creating the system of behavior expectations through PBIS is definitely something that requires more depth and focus to do well.”

And McGinton is no stranger to these new challenges. She is currently the dean of students at Highline Public Schools’ Evergreen campus. She has been with Highline for nine years and started as a social studies teacher at Pacific Middle School before becoming certified as an administrator.

“I came in (to the district) when the socio-emotional learning was just starting — the idea of whole-student support,” she said. “I began to take on a lot of that work and I realized I was able to have a better classroom environment. A lot of the stuff on my resume is what Greg is just starting to work on so I’m excited to help.”

McGilton will be starting at McMurray in July and will begin meeting with teachers and parents in August during open office hours. She said she was drawn to Vashon because its small community reminded her of where she grew up in Ferndale.

“On my site visit before my interview, all of the teachers and leadership were so welcoming and I was able to meet upper administration that you can’t always meet when you’re at larger districts,” she said.

A total of 25 people applied for the position and six were interviewed.

McGilton lives in Burien and has a 4-year-old son named Julian.