Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
new colton principal
--Beth Casey photo
Tim Casey with two students in Guinea, West Africa in 2014.
A career with stops all over the world has come to Colton.
Tim Casey, new principal of Colton/Uniontown school grades K-8, began in August after finishing his last job in Kuwait City, Kuwait.
It was the latest in an international career started with a year in the Peace Corps followed by English-as-second-language teaching jobs from the Virgin Islands to Kirkland, Wash., to Ethiopia.
“Now we've come home,” said Casey, who graduated from high school in Clarkston. He and wife Beth now live in Moscow. She is a substitute teacher for Colton/Uniontown.
“It's really nice. We were hoping I would get into a small school,” said Casey. “It's nice to be able to know everyone and everyone knowing you.”
Last year at this time he was the principal of the American International School of Kuwait and its 2,000 students.
It all began with Casey's graduation from the University of Puget Sound in 1984, after which he went to Morocco with the Peace Corps.
He later attended graduate school in political science at Arizona State but dropped out to pursue education at Whitworth University in Spokane, where he earned his Master's degree.
His teaching career started with one year in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, teaching French in a public school.
“It was a great experience,” Casey said.
He returned to the U.S. with five years in the Kirkland, Wash., school district as an elementary English-as-second-language instructor. From there, he taught at international schools in Malaysia, China, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Guinea (West Africa) and finally, Kuwait.
“It worked out that we went to a lot of places,” Casey said.
He spent his boyhood in Graves' End, Brooklyn and Staten Island before his parents moved the family to Clarkston.
“The plan is now to stay,” said Casey, whose two sisters live in Clarkston. “I'm really glad this is where I ended up. I'm looking forward to working with everyone.”
Casey leads Colton's K-8 grades while Nate Smith is principal for the high school. Smith is also superintendent.
As a former student of political science, what does Casey think of the 2016 presidential race?
“It's very interesting and difficult to explain to our friends overseas,” he said.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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