Havre High School principal Vandersloot headed to Wyoming

Lingle-Fort Laramie Middle and High School has officially signed on current Havre High School Principal Jerry Vandersloot.

At the Goshen County, Wyo., School district's board meeting on Tuesday night, trustees approved the recommendation of Vandersloot's appointment, that had been made by a committee led by Superintendent Ray Schulte.

The move will end Vandersloot's 19-year career within the Havre Public School system.

He started as a middle school teacher in 1989 and eventually worked as a coach, both for football and the high school's Blue Pony wrestling team.

Vandersloot resigned from Havre schools in 1998 to accept his first principal position at the junior and senior high school in Roundup, a position quite similar to his new one in Wyoming.

He returned to Havre in 2001, as Havre High School's assistant principal. After holding that position for a few years, he became the principal in 2007.

His new position is in the small Platte River agricultural community of Lingle, Wyo., a town with a population around 600 people.

The two schools, covering grades six to 12, educate fewer than 200 students.

"It's been something my wife and I have been planning on for years, " Vandersloot said.

Before the meeting, Schulte said that he was excited to work with someone from the Havre Public Schools district, as it has quite a positive reputation among regional education circles.

That view of HPS is something Vandersloot and his new boss already agree on.

"Havre has been a great place to raise our kids, " Vandersloot said. "All three graduated from Havre High. We're very proud of the education they received and of the whole community. "