New Principal at Woodinville High Gets His Dream Job

For principal Kurt Criscione, his new job is a dream come true—a dream he’s had since he was interim assistant principal there from 1992-1997.

“Dave Jones was principal [at Woodinville] then. I just loved the community and the kids, the staff was wonderful,” said Criscione (pronounced chris-shown) as he sat in his sun-filled new office. “In the back of my mind I always thought about it but you know, sometimes those dreams are hard.”

Criscione left WHS in 1997 to become assistant principal at Skyline High School in Sammamish; most recently, he was with the Arlington School District.

“Now I come back and not only get to come back to the Woodinville community but this wonderful new building,” he added.

The school is undergoing a $72 million renovation expected to be completed in November 2012. But dust and noise from construction is not the biggest challenge Criscione said he is faced with; it’s getting to know 140 staff members and more than 1,300 students.

“The biggest challenge is relationships, because you don’t know people,” he said. “I took pictures of the staff home during the summer to try and remember names.”

Building good relationships and trust with the school’s staff and the community are important to Criscione, but reaching out to students is even more important.

“I walk in now and I don’t know the kids, so I’m studying the faces of the seniors—we just had Falcon Days—I see them walking down that hall and I think ‘Oh no, I don’t know the kids’.”

Another challenge to his job is not just having to be an administrator but also needing to take the lead on instruction.

“In the traditional model, which a lot of people have grown up with, the principal at the time was a business manager. They had to have a safe environment,” he said. “But it was really a management role of the kids and staff.”

With all the educational reforms, principals are now also tasked with getting kids to meet state standards.

“We’re now looked at as instructional leaders, as well as the management piece,” he said. “The best part about that is you’re constantly learning. Bottom line, it’s still about people, it’s still about relationships.”