Hollister School District announced Friday morning that Dennis
Kurtz, from Ventura, is the new principal at Gabilan Hills School,
but the district still hasn’t made a decisions about the middle
school’s vice principal vacancy.
Hollister School District announced Friday morning that Dennis Kurtz, from Ventura, is the new principal at Gabilan Hills School, but the district still hasn’t made a decisions about the middle school’s vice principal vacancy.
“He was our top candidate when we were doing the interview process,” HSD Director of Personnel Bill Jordan said about Kurtz. “We’re very happy to have him.”
Coming from Mesa School District down south, Kurtz has a strong science background, with a Ph.D. in geology, a Masters of Science in geology and a Master’s of Arts in education administration. For a period of time, he worked for the Department of the Interior in mineral management. He’s fluent in Spanish and has been working in education for 20 years, according to Jordan.
“He really, truly believes that we’re here for the kids,” he said.
Kurtz could not be reached by phone Friday.
The district began the interview process a few weeks back, when then principal, Diane Campbell, was moved to a position at the district office. HSD moved Rancho San Justo Middle School vice principal Karen Twadell there at the same time. During budget talks in June, the school board agreed to cut one vice principal position from the middle schools, leaving each with one-and-a-half. Marguerite Maze Middle School still has two vice principals, and board member Margie Barrios said, there’s no way of knowing how the district will even out the schools.
“At this time, it’s all still up in the air,” she said.
Because the district has already moved one vice principal, it has two options of how to handle the budget cut, Jordan said. Either they can hire one vice principal who shares half their time at each middle school and let go one of the two spots at Maze, or they can assign counselors to split their day into counseling and vice principal duties and have them make up the difference.
“This position may be like an omelet,” Jordan said. “There will be a little bit of everything.”
This is an ongoing process, and Jordan said, he doesn’t know how long it will take to come up with a solution.
