A vice principal with a penchant for outrigger canoe paddling has taken the steersman position at Waimea Middle School.
Amy Kendziorski spent two years as vice principal at Waimea, and before that was a teacher at Waianae High School, where her love of paddling began. Now a regular at the Kawaihae Canoe Club, the 25-year veteran of the public school system took over the top post at the public conversion charter school during spring break. She plans to bring the paddler’s ethic of teamwork to the job of overseeing 300 students.
Kendziorski said on Thursday she will work to keep Waimea on course with the accreditation the school received last year, boost student achievement, build the school’s financial resources and further parent and community relationships during her appointment as interim principal to last through the next school year.
Former Principal Matt Horne left the helm with plans to move with his family off island. He had been at the post for three years.
Kendziorski has a master’s degree in educational leadership from San Diego State University. During 13 years in Colorado’s Durango School District, she was in charge of special and alternative education, health, safety and discipline for a 4,500-student district with 11 schools and a juvenile detention school.
The interim principal said she is committed to bringing all students equal opportunity to achieve instead of segregating them into different environments based on language or ability. She spent five years as principal at Durango’s Escalante Middle School, where she spearheaded federally mandated “inclusion” practices designed to ensure that all students were learning in equal, integrated environments.
“All children deserve high quality education,” she said. “We must not allow any excuses such as poverty, disability, language barriers or gender bias to get in their way.”
Horne made the decision in January to leave the school. Before departing, he made the following statement to the school’s students and teachers: “I hope every WMS student knows how much I have enjoyed working with them and on their behalf over the past three years — watching them grow personally, and most especially, academically as they prepare for high school and beyond. I am so proud of their hard work and progress, and am grateful to our teachers, staff and our generous school partners for supporting each and every student.”
Cook and Kendziorski said Horne was an active, publicly visible principal who will be missed. Horne pushed a number of initiatives, including the rekindling of a local advisory council, the effort to gain accreditation by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, and funding efforts for a new science building.
Kendziorski said she intends to stay the course and continue the good work that has been started.
“Amy certainly has the credentials and has a great affinity for Hawaii,” said Patti Cook, who is in charge of building parent and community engagement in the school. “We are sorry that Matt Horne and family have chosen to leave the island but we are focused on paddling together, not losing focus as we approach year-end assessments.”
The leadership transition comes at a time when Waimea Middle is preparing for the construction of a $12.7 million science and technology building with 25,177 square feet of floor space, nine science classrooms and laboratories. Groundbreaking is expected over the summer.
“Then we’ll have a year and half of crazy construction, and be ready to move in during 2017,” Kendziorski said.
