LITTLETON, Colo. — October is National Principals’ Month, and JeffCo Public Schools is celebrating two of its own who happen to be the only principals in the district who are married to each other. Amanda Thanos is the principal at Westridge Elementary and John Thanos is the principal at Chatfield Senior High School. The two have been married for the past seven years after meeting for the first time at a previous job.
“We taught at the same school,” Amanda said. “He was teaching middle school, and I was teaching elementary, and it kind of went from there.”
How they met and their careers go hand in hand.
“We’ve both been on this school leadership journey really since we met,” John said. “It was a passion point for us when we were teachers.”
“We took our principal license test on the same day, in the same room,” Amanda added. “He took longer, but we got the exact same score which was good because we’re a little competitive.”
Amanda’s been with the district for three years and John is in his sixth year with JeffCo and in his fourth year as principal. John believes their support for each other’s position is important.
“I’m very fortunate to have Amanda as a principal as well," John said. "She can empathize with what it’s like to know that there’s always something going on that you could be a part of. By all the support she shows me, by loading up the kids and bringing them to a football game because I might not see them any other time that week or that day or whatever that may be.”
The couple has two young children who aren’t ready for school yet but often get included in functions at both schools. Both Amanda and John agree being able to raise their children in the community they serve is a great feeling.
“We just bring our kids along. They go to flag football. They go to all the fun things at the high school,” Amanda said. “A lot of our values overlap with our family too, so that’s been really great just of resilience, toughness, positivity and really wanting our kids at home and our kids here at school to thrive and be adaptable and have some happy memories along the way.”
Both agree that their jobs take a commitment, but it's the job at home that they love best.
“It has been just great to be married to another person who shares the same passion in education,” Amanda said. “We want to create some happy memories along the way and principals really can empower others to do that.”
“Recognizing the important moments for the other person to be involved so that we can take that step to take care of the kids at home,” John added. “We do a great job of sharing that responsibility while just being as all in as possible for our communities.”