Wyoming man named new junior high principal

Columbia Falls Junior High students will have a new principal in the fall as School District 6 has hired Doug Hazen to fill the position while current principal Dave Wick serves as president of the National Association of Elementary Principals during the 2019-20 school year.

Hazen is currently the middle school principal and special education director in Lovell, Wyoming, a town of about 2,400 located 90 miles south of Billings.

Hazen, who has spent his entire 11-year educational career in Lovell, said he was looking for an opportunity at a larger school to expand his career and provide new opportunities for his three children.

“Lovell is a small town and I decided that I wanted a different experience for my career. I wanted to see how things work in a bigger school system and I also wanted some more opportunities for my children that we may not have available to us here in Lovell,” Hazen said.

Hazen grew up in Wisconsin and played football at Carroll College (now Carroll University) in Waukesha, Wis. while earning his undergraduate degree. He served as a graduate assistant on the football team at Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota while working on his master’s in education.

Hazen said he had dreamed of being a college football coach, but when he learned how often college coaches are forced to move, he made the decision to apply for a teaching job in Lovell.

Hazen started his career in Lovell as a high school math teacher, assistant football coach and head middle school wrestling coach, but gave up the wrestling position after being named the high school’s head football coach in his second year. Hazen spent five years at the high school before becoming the middle school principal, a position which he has held for the past six years. Hazen has spent the last two years as the school’s special education director while also working on earning a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Wyoming.

Hazen says none of it would be possible without help from his very understanding wife, Lindsey, and children Addison, Rowdy and Theo.

Hazen says he is very much looking forward to making the move to Columbia Falls and says he thinks the area will be a good fit for him and his family and he hopes to be here for a long time.

“We like the mountains and I like to ski and backpack and fish and Columbia Falls a bit of all of that. Also, my brother lives in Sandpoint, Idaho, so it will be good to be closer to him. It just seems like a good fit for us and a good opportunity,” he said. “I just want come in and do my job and help with the transition and then we will see where we will go from there. I would certainly like to stay with the district long term and that is what we are hoping for.”