Dear Robert Eagle Staff Community,

I am thrilled to be able to introduce myself as I join the Robert Eagle Staff Middle School community as your new Assistant Principal. I’m also really, really, excited to get to know you. Really. I am committed to continuing to expand the work that is already being done here to create and sustain an anti-racist, anti-bias, school community that values student voice and brings to life the belief that each one of us has the capacity for growth, learning, and excellence. Each of us –students, family members, caretakers, and staff –already possesses unique gifts and assets that we get to bring with us every day as we strengthen this community. We get to recognize, value, draw out, and amplify these diverse strengths in each other. We get to utilize our own assets as we support each other’s development and learning. We get to generate and maintain a rich web of relationships that holds us up as a community and supports our continuing ability to thrive. I am honored to join you in this collective work.

Middle school is… well… it’s pretty great, even if it is sometimes challenging. It is a time when young folks are almost constantly exploring what it means to be becoming an adult. Whether it is in the form of navigating personal and social boundaries or experimenting with seemingly ever-changing interests, hobbies, friend groups, clothing choices, unforgettable song lyrics, etc., this exploration can at times bring struggles, but it also brings an openness, curiosity, and sense of possibility that is a joy witness and support.

I went to middle school and grew up in the small mountain town of Estes Park, Colorado, where I came to understand the value of community and relationships. I then explored the Pacific time zone moving first to Tacoma where I attended the University of Puget Sound, came to know and love Seattle, received my bachelor’s degree in political science, and met my best friend and partner. From there I trickled down the coast, living in Berkeley and Los Angeles. We adopted our dogs, Themba and Luna, I received my Master’s in Education from UCLA, and I began my career in education 15 years ago in the Los Angeles Unified School District. My six years in south Los Angeles schools validated my beliefs in the value of inclusive culturally responsive anti-racist practices, in centering students and communities who are furthest from educational justice, and that every student has brilliance within them waiting for a place to shine.

The late spring of 2013 gave my partner, Themba, Luna, and me the opportunity to move back north –back to the place that had become home. I first joined Seattle Public Schools as a teacher at Hamilton International Middle School where I came to more fully appreciate the joys, struggles, silliness, and value of the middle school years. Over time, I received my administrative credential from Gonzaga University and joined the administrative team at Washington Middle School where I have had the privilege of utilizing my passion for supporting students, teachers, families, and caretakers as I served as Assistant Principal for the last five years.

I am honored to join all the dedicated folks who make up the Robert Eagle Staff community as we partner together to engage in the work of collaboratively growing as a learning community, navigating and supporting each other through whatever challenges may arise, and fostering the brilliance, curiosity, gifts, creativity, intellectual growth, social and emotional development, and innovative capacities of our students.

Devin Murphy
(he/ him/ his)
dlmurphy@seattleschools.org