POULSBO — Former Poulsbo Elementary School co-principal Jerry Willson used to joke that he and Jeanette Wolfe, the other half of the administrative team, made up “50 cents” each of the position.

But Willson’s departure from the North Kitsap School District at the end of last year left Wolfe the lone head of school.

“Now the whole buck stops with me, I guess,” she said with a laugh.

Wolfe enters her first year as the principal having been in the building two years already: one as co-principal and one as assistant principal.

Her first year will no doubt be a challenge but she’s set to hit the ground running because she’s already acclimated to the environment there.

“One of the big things that helps is knowing the families and knowing the teachers,” she said. “I’ve had two years to establish relationships.”

She mentioned that her goals at the school are keeping the strong traditions that already exist there, such as continuing to build PTA involvement and pushing further WASL improvements.

Like any leadership position, stress comes as a part of the job. But when she’s feeling it, she said she has a simple way of relieving it.

“I just walk into a classroom,” she said, “and remember how fun kids are and how much fun I have watching them learn.”

Her career in education began when she received her teaching credentials in the late 1980s. Her first assignment was at Pearson Elementary, where she taught the second grade for three years.

When Gordon Elementary opened, Wolfe took a job teaching there, and would eventually teach first, second and a third and fourth grade looping class at the Kingston area school.

She also became an academic interventionist at Gordon, and went back to school to get her master’s in school administration. Her first assignment as an administrator came at Poulsbo, where she became the assistant principal under Willson during the 2003-04 school year.

She was bumped up to co-principal last year before Willson announced his retirement from NKSD to go to the Bremerton School District.