Point Dume Elementary Principal Stepping Down

Principal Chi Kim is leaving to work for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Her title will be Program Officer of U.S. Programs, Education. Kim's nine-year tenure as the head of PDMSS will end Aug. 31. The Board of Education is expected to appoint a replacement at its Wednesday meeting.

Kim announced her resignation last month in a letter to parents. She said that the Gates Foundation recruited her for the job. It would have been difficult to refuse the offer, Kim said, despite having deep reservations about leaving Malibu for the new post in Seattle.

"Honestly, I would have never left the school," she said. "It's a glorious place to be—the families, teachers and students. It's hard to say no to the [Gates] Foundation."

Under Kim's watch, PDMSS became a California Distinguished School last year when it increased its overall API score by 74 points. Kim said she was proud of the school's involvement in environmental awareness. Through a private/public partnership, 33 solar panels were installed at PDMSS. Also, the school piloted the Teaching Garden Program, which was adopted by the American Heart Association.

Kim also said she was pleased with the school's involvement in community service. Students and their families raised more than $100,000 to support victims of natural disasters and war during her tenure. And keeping in line with the school's focus on marine biology, students helped save several endangered species of turtles and other sea animals.

Kim began her academic career in Inglewood, first as a teacher and later as an assistant principal. This was followed by a three-year administrative stint in the Bay Area. When she took the top post at PDMSS in 2002, Kim became the school's fourth principal since it reopened in 1996. PDMSS needed someone who could bring more longevity to the role, said Mayor Pro Tem Laura Zahn Rosenthal, who was the school's PTA president at the time of Kim's hiring.

"She immediately brought a stability to the school and a lot of innovation," Rosenthal said. "[Kim] was very technically minded."

Kim said that she does not know how widespread the district's search has been for her successor, but she hopes that the transition will be a smooth one.

"I do know that the parents and the teachers are so great, that having a new leader will bring fresh ideas," she said.