Middle school principal Kevin Parker took over as Executive Director of Human Resources and Communications on Oct. 25. Superintendent Katie Kordel nominated him after Dr. Kent Messer resigned earlier this semester.
“As a teacher, I thought I was pretty effective in the classroom and I wanted to be effective on the campus,” At some point, you become effective on the campus, and now you want to be effective in the district. That’s just kind of where I am”
Parker currently splits his time between the home office and the middle school. He is currently acting as principal of the middle school until he hires a replacement.
“Right now, we’re in the process of having information sessions with staff, and we really want to hear what their input is, and parents too, on who the next principal of Willow Springs is going to be,” Parker said. “We’ll take that feedback and develop questions, so we can really capture what the community is wanting and then of course, what the school district is needing out of a leader on a campus as well.”
Parker first joined the district 15 years ago as a middle school social studies teacher. He became an assistant principal at the middle school and Puster. He became the principal of Puster, and after working in the public sector, he returned to become the principal of the middle school.
“Our entire staff was very shocked and surprised and saddened,” seventh grade RLA teacher Leigh Bellows said. “He is just a terrific principal, and he’s fair and kind and funny. We all were very disappointed and sad for us and our campus because we have had quite a bit of change lately. But we, once we all got over the shock, we realized he will be in a better position to affect long term goals of the district.”
In his job, Parker will serve in the Superintendent’s Cabinet. In Human Resources, he will lead the interviewing and hiring process for new employees along with other responsibilities. In communications, he will manage general information release to members of the district and act as a liaison between outside organizations and
“For instance, last week, we had channel eight news that wanted to come and do their morning show with us,” Parker said. “[My job is] really about coordinating, finding out what their idea of the production they want to do is and then making that happen, and having everybody ready for when they get here so everything runs smoothly.”
This year, Kordell restructured the HR and communications department to report directly to her. Previously, two different people carried out the role of HR director. Now, Hambrick is the only HR director, and Parker is the executive director of HR and communications. Before, the HR department reported to the assistant superintendent instead of directly to the superintendent.
“I think the restructure makes a lot of sense,” director of HR Dr. Marcy Hambrick said. “I’m excited for it. The way we had it before probably wouldn’t have been my idea on how it would be restructured. I think the way she’s looking at it now is probably following some more of a traditional way of being structured and it’s only going to make our district better.”
