New Principal at Council Elementary
The beginning of the school year brings lots of new things, and this year there are plenty within the Council School District. One of the more exciting new additions this year is the new principal of Council Elementary School, Leo Fontana.
Mr. Fontana is new to Council as well as the school district. He moved to Council, with his wife and daughter, from Buhl, where he was a resource teacher and football coach. His wife, Melinda Fontana, is also a teacher, and is now the district Title One Coordinator.
Leo Fontana had been working in Education for 21 years, however, this is his first administrative role. He recently finished his Administrative Credential at Idaho State University. He also has a K-8 Multiple Subject Credential, a 6-12 Social Studies, 6-12 History, a K-12, English Language Learners Certification, and a K-12 Special Education Credential. He has worked both in general education and Special Education. While looking around for administrative positions, he started talking to former superintendent, Pat Griffin, who was at the time looking for a SPED Director. Later, when Griffin was looking at stepping away, he asked Fontana if he would be interested in becoming the Elementary Principal. Fontana was interested.
Leo Fontana will be serving dual roles this year, both as the Elementary School Principal and as the SPED Director. Fontana enjoys coaching football, likes to fish, and has a fondness for DIY and renovating old properties. He and his wife are very involved with their daughter, Ella, and helping with all of her pursuits. She is currently a senior at Council High School. So far, they have all loved the community. They had traveled in the area while coaching and loved it and were already interested in getting into the mountains. Fontana said everyone has been very supportive, from the staff and the school board, to their neighbors and the community, “it’s been a great transition for us,” he said.
Fontana wants to make the school more of a cohesive unit by making the staff and families feel more supported by the administration. He checks in during the morning with all the staff members to see what they need for the day, and wants to build bridges and mend fences. “I believe that the school is a team, cause I’ve always been a coach,” said Fontana, “and that’s what’s important, is that we’re a team and we work together as a team.”
One challenge this year will be all the new staff and building on the things that have worked in the past. He said they want to be fully transparent with everything and get parents more updated and teachers updated. They are working on getting their social media more connected to get information out. “We’re all here for the kids,” said Fontana, “just trying to get to know everybody, and be able to work together and build a team. That takes time.”
Also new this year, the Council School District will be implementing a program called PBIS which stands for Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports. Fontana said he has used the program in other school districts and it is an elaborate program that usually takes three years to fully implement. Currently, Council is in the Tier One stage. “The goal of PBIS is to build those positive behaviors and hopefully try to extinguish or lessen those negative behaviors,” said Fontana. Part of building the programs is figuring out the rewards incentive and working them into the school. So this year they will be giving out GRIT bucks (the motto is Lumberjacks had GRIT, Gratitude, Respect, Integrity, and Tenacity) that the children can use as rewards, there will also be drawings for the kids, and assemblies where they give out awards and recognize achievements. Fontana said the students seemed excited about the program during the first assembly. There will still be consequences for negative behaviors, according to Fontana, but the goal is rewarding the positive.
Fontana says he has an open door policy. If ever anyone has concerns he said to “come on down and talk to me, I want to hear the concern and want to help you and deal with it.” Fontana explained he is a parent himself, and understands what it is like to want the best possible education for your child. He comes from a family of teachers and said he loves teaching and has education in his blood. He is looking forward to the school year and integrating into the community. “We really want to build trust and transparency with the community,” said Fontana, who sees the school working together with the community as a team for the kids. “We’re here to educate the kids and provide them the best possible education we can, so that they can grow up to be good community members someday.”
