Getting to Know Eva Chazo, Everson Elementary’s New Principal
Eva Chazo is knocking on doors. Everson Elementary School’s new principal spent the summer getting to know the neighborhoods and families within Everson, putting her desire for authentic relationships front and center by trying to visit every family from the school living in Everson.
“The idea behind that is the principal usually has a couple of days where families come and meet them,” she says. “I felt like it was more important for me to go to them. It shouldn’t be on the parents always to come to you. My goal was to get out and go to doors and say ‘hi’ and ‘happy to meet you’ and see if anybody had any issues.”
While people were often gone at work or on vacation, Chazo believes she met face-to-face with roughly 20% of the school’s families and when she didn’t connect personally, she left fun notes and puns for the students and parents letting them know she stopped by. The entire exercise has also given her a real sense of the streets of Everson. “It’s been a beautiful thing to see the neighborhoods and meet folks,” she says. “Everybody is so nice here.”
Chazo comes to Everson following the retirement of longtime principal Kevin DeVere. She’s worked in education most of her career, starting in Asheville, North Carolina, where she taught for 10 years as both a special education teacher and inclusion teacher at the middle and high school levels. She moved to Whatcom County 12 years ago with her husband and son (he’s now 22 and attending Whatcom Community College) and taught at Fairhaven Middle School and Happy Valley Elementary. She became the assistant principal at Cordata Elementary School in Bellingham before serving as the school’s principal last year. She’s also earned her superintendent’s credential and is working on her doctorate degree.
Moving to Everson Elementary was about connecting with her past. Chazo grew up on a farm in a rural area of Orange County, Virginia, and attended a school that reminds her a lot of Everson Elementary. “I feel like it is returning to my roots quite a bit and I missed this kind of community,” she says. “I was excited to be part of a smaller district.” The size allows for more collaboration between administrators and staff and generates a more familial feeling within the school, she says. “When things are smaller and tighter, you can take action a little more quickly,” Chazo says. “It really just feels like home.”
The time getting to know the school and the community is only one part of the focus for Chazo since she officially started on July 1, but with the school year quickly approaching she’s ready to “figure out what [the school] needs and to be that and give it to them.” Part of that, she knows, will allow relationships to flourish.
“I always have an open door toward students, staff, families and also the community,” she says. “I really like to embrace interacting with community members and invite them to come on over and say hello and connect. We are part of the community and should be working together.”
If you don’t knock on Chazo’s door, she may just be around the corner about to knock on yours.