North Beach Schools hire two new principals

Among eight applicants for the Pacific Beach position, Perez was the unanimous choice of the hiring committee which was comprised of teachers, classified staff, parents and other district administrators. For the Junior/Senior High School principal, there were 12 applicants. Kelly explained, “There wasn’t a unanimous choice on this one. Each of the three candidates had strengths that were valued by some portion of the team. In this case, I made the final decision, in conjunction with our two Assistant Principals who will be returning next year, based on the feedback of the committee and my observations and reference checks of each of the candidates.”

The North Beach School District has hired two new principals for the 2019-2020 school year. Russell Evans comes from southeastern Texas to serve as principal of North Beach Junior/Senior High, while Marlene Perez, the wife of district Superintendent Andrew Kelly, has been completing her administrative internship at the school she will lead, Pacific Beach Elementary.

Russell Evans

A Texas native, Evans brings 12 years of experience as a transformational educator to the position. He has taught at the junior high, high school and university level.

Most recently, he served as the assistant principal at a 2,200-student secondary campus, Tomball High School in southeast Texas.

“My goals to support the campus improvement plan have ranged from refining perceptions of our campus from external stakeholders, improving overall campus climate among teachers, building relationships with both staff and students, supporting the newly installed professional learning community process, overseeing our web/social media expansion presence for our campus, and developing our students’ social-emotional learning competencies through character education,” he explained.

“To a person, the hiring committee expressed confidence that he has the expertise and student-centered philosophy that will build a strong educational program for our secondary students.”

Evans earned his bachelor’s degree in geography from Texas A & M University. His masters’s in curriculum and instruction, also from Texas A & M. He also has a Texas and Washington principal’s certificate and is currently in the final steps of finishing an education doctorate in curriculum and instruction through Texas A&M. Moving from Texas with Evans are his wife, Stephanie (who is also an educator), and their three children, Zachary, Victoria and Logan.

Marlene Perez

As a native Spanish speaker and first-generation college graduate, Perez says she has a passion for advocating for equity, access, and high academic standards. “My entire career has been focused on supporting all kids and working strategically to fill the academic gaps that, at times, prevent some students from attaining grade-level proficiency,” she explained.

In 2019-2020, she will step into the leadership position at Pacific Beach Elementary created by Lynnette Reime’s retirement. In addition to her administrative internship, her work at Pacific Beach has included serving as the Title/LAP/HiCap Specialist for the school and she has served as the Bilingual Coordinator. Last year, she helped lead professional learning communities with other teachers, and facilitated the district’s BEST (Beginning Educator Support Team) Grant meetings.

She earned her bachelor’s degree from Washington State University in elementary education. Her master’s is in Educational Leadership from Heritage University. She also has pursued professional development in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education, Lego robotics, and English language acquisition and literacy.

And, she added, “I have the great advantage of the legacy Mrs. Reime has left us. Her heart will always be part of Pacific Beach. As Mrs. Reime says, ‘Pacific Beach is the best-kept secret.’”

His wife’s unanimous recommendation by the Pacific Beach hiring team did not surprise Kelly. “I’ve been blessed over the past three years to watch Marlene build relationships with all kids, even the tough ones,” he said. “She never gives up on kids and has a track record of accelerating students who are academically behind, so they can grow to meet and exceed grade level standards. I’m thrilled to have her continue her work as the lead learner at Pacific Beach.”

Perez and Kelly have a blended family that includes four students enrolled in North Beach: Monique and Hector, as well as Ezekiel and Josiah. As a mother, educator and now an elementary principal, Perez emphasized that she believes the teacher’s first role is “to love our students unconditionally, and this will permeate to classroom instruction. Love can push us as human beings to go the extra mile; why not foster a culture of love in our classrooms?”

Among eight applicants for the Pacific Beach position, Perez was the unanimous choice of the hiring committee which was comprised of teachers, classified staff, parents and other district administrators. For the Junior/Senior High School principal, there were 12 applicants. Kelly explained, “There wasn’t a unanimous choice on this one. Each of the three (final) candidates had strengths that were valued by some portion of the team. In this case, I made the final decision, in conjunction with our two Assistant Principals who will be returning next year, based on the feedback of the committee and my observations and reference checks of each of the candidates.”