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Our Principals

Chris Very, Principal

Chris Very photo

Christopher Very began his educational career in the West Jefferson Hills School District in 2001 as a second grade teacher at Jefferson Elementary School. Mr. Very spent six years teaching within the district as a second and third grade teacher at both Jefferson Elementary and Gill Hall Elementary before accepting his first principal position in the Carlynton School District. Over the next four years, Mr. Very served as an elementary building principal in both Carlynton and Cornell School Districts, respectively. In 2012, Mr. Very returned to the West Jefferson Hills School District as building principal of Jefferson Elementary School/Jefferson Hills Intermediate School. This year marks his thirteenth year as principal of Jefferson Elementary School/JHIS and seventeenth as an elementary building principal.

His educational experiences have afforded him the opportunity to collaborate with a diverse group of people to meet the common goal of increasing student achievement and well-being. His educational philosophy is based on his uncompromising belief that all students can learn, given a positive learning environment, strong and knowledgeable leadership, a committed and focused educational team, an encouraging community, and a supportive family. All of which, the West Jefferson Hills School District possess.

Mr. Very has received a Bachelor’s Degree in Kinesiology from the Pennsylvania State University in 1999. He returned to California University of Pennsylvania where he earned his Master’s Degree in Elementary Education in 2001. After several years of teaching, he pursued his Administrative Certification from California University of Pennsylvania, which he obtained in 2007. 

Dr. Melissa McCauley, Assistant Principal

Melissa McCauley photo

Dr. Melissa McCauley is excited to be a part of JHIS and looking forward to bringing her years of experience to best support the students, staff, and parents. During her thirteen years in education she has worked in the Mount Pleasant and Trinity School Districts as a Family Consumer Science Teacher.

Melissa earned her Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education from California University in 2007 and completed her student teaching in the West Jefferson Hills School District at Pleasant Hills Middle School and Gill Hall Elementary. She continued her education earning her Masters Degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Clarion University in 2011. In 2012, she joined the West Jefferson Hills School District as the Family and Consumer Science Teacher at Pleasant Hills Middle School, where she fell in love with the district.

She became the Vice-Principal at PHMS in 2019 during the pandemic. In
2016, she started working on her doctorate and administrative certificate. She
successfully defended her dissertation in 2019 and graduated from Drexel University with a Doctorate in Educational Leadership and Administrative Certification. Dr. McCauley and her husband live in the WJHSD and are proud parents of two children in the Jaguar Nation.