SchoolTalk

Jim Keal has been named principal of Washington Elementary School. He will assume the position for the 2025-26 school year on July 1 from Cathy Selberg who is retiring.

Keal has served as District assistant principal and principal of secondary summer school since 2024. He was assistant principal of Dakota High School and Agassiz from 2017-2024 and was assistant principal of secondary summer school from 2013-2023. Keal was a counselor at South High School from 2004-2017.

Keal holds a Master of Education in Educational Leadership from North Dakota State University, a Master of Science in School Counseling from the University of Wisconsin-Superior, and a Bachelor of Applied Science from the University of Minnesota-Duluth in Teaching Middle Level Sciences. He holds North Dakota teaching, school counseling, special education, and secondary administration credentials.

Emily Dilliard has been named principal of Explorer Academy. She will assume the position for the 2025-26 school year on July 1 from Dr. Justin Lien who has resigned from the role.

Dilliard has served as Dean of Students at Explorer Academy since 2023. She joined Fargo Public Schools in 2020 as a school psychologist. Since 2017, she has served as the associate program director for the NDSU Bison Strides program, overseeing and instructing social-emotional learning sessions for youth ages 8-17 with social, emotional and or behavioral challenges. She served as a teacher’s assistant in a childcare setting from 2016-18 and was a graduate teaching assistant in the school psychology program at Minnesota State University Moorhead from 2017-18. From 2013-16, she served as the lead instructor at Riding on Angels’ Wings, supervising and instructing adapted horseback riding lessons for adults and children with special needs.

Dilliard holds bachelor’s degrees in animal science and equine science from North Dakota State University, and a Master of Science in School Psychology from Minnesota State University Moorhead. She obtained her school psychology and educational leadership specialist degrees from Minnesota State University Moorhead.

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