All About Vaughn Elementary School

JUMP TO

Respectful, Responsible, and Safe
Educational Options
The Vaughn Community
Vaughn Elementary School Stats
Neighborhoods Within School Boundary

As we continue our series about the Peninsula School District, today we are looking at Vaughn Elementary School, which is midway down the Key Peninsula. I’m here to take you inside so you can meet the students, teachers, and staff and learn what they all love about their school.

Welcome To Vaughn Elementary

Abbie Barabe, Principal

I am the principal of Vaughn Elementary. I’m also a parent of Vaughn Elementary. Vaughn is located in the Key Peninsula, past Gig Harbor. We are centrally located in the Key Peninsula, so we’re in the middle. Our students start here, they go over to Key Peninsula Middle School and eventually go on to be a Peninsula High School Seahawk.

Vaughn’s a really special place: it’s family oriented, and our community is a huge part of everything Vaughn. The community knows all the students, they know what we’re doing at Vaughn, and they’re willing to help us. We have a great Communities In Schools program where we reach out, they come back.

We also have an ECAP program, which is an early childhood program, and that is all day. We have preschoolers, three- and four-year-olds here all day long. They’re often caught walking around our building doing learning walks because it gets them out, gets a little air, and it’s good for us to see the little people back there too.

Respectful, Responsible, and Safe

Abbie Barabe, Principal

Vaughn believes that every student has a great future and we’re going to grow them, and the way that we do that is we help them be Respectful, Responsible, and Safe. They’re at the market, they’re at Vaughn, they’re at the zoo—they’re modeling those behaviors. They’re showing us the best Vaughn Husky they can be.

Lilly Groshell, Teacher

This is my fifth year at Vaughn, and I’ve always taught at Vaughn. Our guidelines of success are Respectful, Responsible, and Safe. Every morning we talk about it. Everything we do, no matter where we are, is focused on that. Just the constant reminders of what is respectful, responsible, and safe, using those words, teaching them those skills so that they can handle things in a respectful and responsible way, and just pointing it out as much as we can.

Graham, Student

I’m a Vaughn Husky and I’m respectful, responsible, and safe.

Educational Options

Abbie Barabe, Principal

Students who are in our Options classroom are identified with an Individualized Education Plan and needing an additional support. We have two programs: we have a program that has kindergarten and first graders who are working on reading, writing, learning their ABCs, and just being a part of a school. Our third, fourth, and fifth graders are in a separate classroom and they have been in the school for a while. They participate with their general ed teacher and they get the extra support they need from their Options teacher and that basic level is all they need to be successful in the classroom right now.

Erica Griswold, Options Teacher

I teach the Options Classroom Primary, so K through one this year, and I’ve been here for eight years. First off, it is a lot of fun—the kids are funny, they’re adorable. We definitely try to get them with their peers as much as possible. It’s important for them to learn social skills that way, and it also helps teach their peers how to interact with kids that may be a little bit neurodiverse.

The Vaughn Community

Jason Buller, Parent

I’m a parent at Vaughn Elementary here of a third grader and a kindergartner. A lot of the opportunities that I’ve been involved with so far have been on the PTA. I know the teachers pretty well and they talk to us when we’re picking up the kids, they talk to us outside of school hours a lot. We’re aware of what’s going on with the kids most of the time; the fact that it’s a pretty small, close-knit school means that I feel very safe.

We know both of our kids’ teachers as well as a lot of the other kids’ teachers, and we feel comfortable talking to them. It’s a really open, friendly environment.

Trish Drage, Teacher

What I love about Vaughn Elementary School are all the kids, and the excitement they bring to learning and just the passion they have to be Vaughn Huskies.

Lily, Student

I’ve been here for four years. I do Husky Helping. It’s really fun because we get to help around and it makes us feel better about ourselves and that we’re being good people.

Lilly Groshell, Teacher

Vaughn is very special. I love how supportive and encouraging everybody is, and we really work as a team to best meet all of our Huskies’ needs.

Abbie Barabe, Principal

Vaughn is a population of about 305 students right now, and I can honestly say that I know them by name, by face. I know unique things about them. And the best part of it is because we are small, that we are a family. My goal as principal is to make sure every student walks through the door, feels included, feels belonged, and feels loved, and to make sure that they grow to be a successful adult.

Neighborhoods Within School Boundary

While Vaughn is a more rural area, some of the neighborhoods include:

  • Crescent Beach

  • Lake Holiday

  • Lake Minterwood

  • Lake of the Woods

  • Rocky Bay

If you want to learn more about our wonderful community here be sure to check out my blog, or for more information on buying and selling in Gig Harbor and the surrounding area go to askpaigeschulte.com.

Gig Harbor SchoolsBecca Fitzpatrick