Starting this school year, Francis Howell North welcomed the new head principal Mr. Jeffery Fletcher to the FHN administration. 

Along with his love for teaching kids and his friendly demeanor, Fletcher brought a vision for Francis Howell North with his new position. Upon arrival, he was enchanted by the close knit community of our students and faculty, but found himself wanting to build an even stronger one. 

“Working with kids, hands down, it’s my favorite part,” Fletcher said. “It’s the whole reason I got into education. I love talking to kids, working with kids.” 

The process of selecting a new principal was not an easy one. Applicants had to go through three rounds of interviews and meet with existing faculty members and the superintendent. The first round is a screening round, followed by a building round where the candidates are then introduced to the current faculty of that school. The final superintendent round included other administrators, executive academic members and the superintendent himself. Even though there was a multitude of well rounded applicants for the position, Mr. Fletcher outshined them all. 

“[I wanted] to do what’s best, and I think my experience being an assistant [principal], working with students, working with teachers, kind of led to that,” Fletcher said. 

Assistant principal Dr. Erin Steep has been in this position at FHN for ten years. Through her community, she knew the future head of FHN even before his interview. Four years ago at the time when he was an assistant principal at Fort Zumwalt North, he was also the coach for her 9 year-old son’s baseball team.

“My first impression of him was that if he could handle [coaching 9 year-olds], and have patience through that, then he could handle anything,” Steep said. 

From her encounter with Fletcher, Steep could tell he enjoyed his time working with kids, and would make an excellent principal for the students at FHN. Fletcher is ecstatic to get to know the students and staff. He has plans to put our school on the map, and can’t wait to make this year even better than the last. 

“I want to make North the place to be,” Fletcher said. “I want kids to love coming to school.”