Chamisa principal Craig Washnok retires after 31 years in education

Craig Washnok rang his last school bell at Chamisa Elementary on May 27, ending a 31-year career in education that helped shape classrooms from Illinois to Los Alamos County. His retirement matters well beyond one personnel change: at a neighborhood school where daily routines, behavior expectations and parent communication often rise and fall with the principal’s presence, families will soon see whether Chamisa’s culture stays steady under new leadership.

Los Alamos Public Schools selected Elizabeth Meek, Chamisa’s assistant principal for the past two years, to succeed Washnok at the end of the school year. That choice gives Chamisa a built-in transition, with the school’s next leader already familiar with teachers, students and the day-to-day patterns of the PK-6 campus at 301 Meadow Lane in White Rock. The district’s 2025-26 calendar placed the school year’s end in late May, aligning the handoff with the close of classes.

Washnok’s path to the principal’s office began far from White Rock. He left a marketing-and-advertising track, decided he wanted to teach history, and earned a degree in history and secondary education in 1995. He started with summer school work in Crystal Lake, Illinois, then taught government and Southwest history at Gallup High School. After earning a master’s degree in special education in Albuquerque, he moved through middle and high school special education in Los Lunas, coaching and teaching in Ruidoso, and eventually to Los Alamos, where he and his family wanted to live and work in the district.

At Los Alamos Middle School, Washnok taught special education inclusion classes, coached wrestling from 2015 to 2019 and also taught the Positive Support Program. When the Chamisa principal job opened, he applied and later said it was the best professional decision he could have made. On the Chamisa families page, he wrote, “I absolutely love being an elementary principal! Chamisa is a special place ...” The district said he moved to elementary as Chamisa principal in 2018, and he spent seven years leading the Cheetahs.

For parents and staff, the most immediate question is continuity. Chamisa serves 302 students in PK-6 and has an 11:1 student-teacher ratio, according to U.S. News Education, which means a principal’s influence reaches into small daily decisions that families notice quickly. Washnok’s retirement closes a long chapter, but Meek’s promotion from within suggests Los Alamos Public Schools wants the school’s tone, relationships and routines to carry forward with as little disruption as possible.