Stephanie Jones-Wong

NOT YOUR AVERAGE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPAL... MEET THE REAL Mrs. Stephanie Jones Wong

Stephanie Jones Wong is a beacon in society, and a model of due diligence in our local community. She has worked with much pride and joy in education and is a community builder with Clark County School District for over 20 years. Starting as an English teacher at Cimarron-Memorial High School in 1995, where she worked for 4 years, she then moved on to become a Dean of Students until 2000, when she became the Assistant Principal at Bonanza High School until 2005, and then the Principal at Garside Junior High School until 2010. In January 2010, she took the position of Principal at Red Rock Elementary School where she still is Principal and oversees the staff that serves over 670 students each day. She has had the pleasure of having children of past students as the Principal at Red Rock Elementary. Stephanie believes school should serve as a hub for services for families, including access to health care, mental care, eye care and dental care; “many families

do not have access to quality care or are unable to access it easily, but families come to the campus every day, so it makes sense to provide the services on site,” Stephanie states. Stephanie dreams to provide social services to families, focused on families with children with special needs. Experience has taught Stephanie that access to therapies such as Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Speech and ABA therapy is difficult to find outside of school facilities and hours, and it is a hard push to pull a child out of class to attend therapy during the school day. As such, she finds that parents are often faced with a difficult decision for the child, therapy, or school? When both are essential. Stephanie would like to see these services provided to the students and families on school grounds before and after school hours, as well as co-treatment options where students can participate in necessary therapies while attending classes. Stephanie sees a loss of connectedness in moving from elementary to middle to high schools, so has made it a personal and professional goal to create a school and provide an atmosphere for students' grades Pre-K – 12.

"My desire to keep students on the same campus PK-12 stems from the loss of connectedness we see when students transition to each level. Elementary teachers and staff are in a unique position because they get to know the families and work with the children from age 3 to age 10 or 11. We know the stories of the families and can provide necessary support. However, when a student transitions to middle school, it is common for their story to get lost, and a 10-year-old is much less likely to tell their story to 6 new teachers in middle school."

Stephanie continues, "When I'm not being a principal, I participate in NHRA drag racing. I got 2 speeding tickets in 1997 and a friend of mine said I should drag race! Not long after I started dating my husband and guess what? He was a drag racer! My first race car was a 1976 Plymouth Volare. Now I race a 1970 Plymouth Barracuda in the Stock Eliminator Class. I have been successful with class racing and my best finish was runner-up at a National Event in Denver, CO. One of my favorite cars that I race is our 1973 AMC Gremlin!"

She has been married 20 years and she and her husband have 2 children, 14 and 10 years old.

They have 2 dogs, 2 cats, a pot belly pig (Chris P Bacon), a desert tortoise, chickens, & a turkey!