Although he doesn’t officially start until July 2, new superintendent Andrew Kelly began to lay out his vision for the North Beach School District last week at the School Board’s final regular meeting of the often contentious school year.

He’s already created a new North Beach School District Facebook page to better connect with the community.

At the same time, interim co-superintendents Dave Wayman and Stan Pinnick presided over what they hope will be their final session filling in after former Supt. Deborah Holcomb was fired by the board in March in her second year on the job.

Also, new District 5 Board member Catherine Wright was seated for her first regular meeting as the board returned to its full five members since longtime board member Scott Sage stepped down and Rachel Carl moved from the area.

Kelly, who was hired earlier this month after serving as superintendent with the Lyle School District and principal of the middle/high school in the south-central Washington town, made the trip to North Beach mostly to listen during the board meeting.

“I really come to the North Beach School District with a tremendous amount of hope and optimism about what can be,” Kelly said. “I can tell you the thing that breaks my heart right now is seeing the negative responses and negative engagement from families and people who feel like the district has let them down. And I know that me coming here and taking this position doesn’t fix all that.”

Over the summer, Kelly said he plans to do a lot of listening: “I’m not sure what this is going to look like, but there are a lot of times when families or parents of kids who want to get together and talk about the concerns they have can come together and talk.”

“I really hope that all of you that are here tonight continue to hold me responsible on a month-to-month basis for showing incremental progress over time,” Kelly added.

One idea he suggested was to develop a “cohesive K-12 plan” for how students move from grade school to junior and high school through graduation.

“I am hopeful over the next couple of years that we can be more clear about what those metrics are, how do those transitions look at every point along the way, and how do we support kids and families,” Kelly said.

He noted he will have four children attending North Beach schools, “So I’ll not only be your superintendent, I’ll be a dad with kids in the system. One of the things I said in my interview was that my expectations for all of our kids in North Beach is that they will be treated exactly as I would want my own kids to be treated.”

Kelly was among 11 hires (seven teachers) approved by the Board during the meeting.

“That’s the longest list I have ever seen,” Wayman noted of the new hires. He and Pinnick previously served as co-superintendents for 16 years for North Beach.

“We have a lot of new hires coming in next year. It seems like the last couple of years, that has been the case. Along with that, when you get new staff members in, there are communication issues, everybody has to be on the same page. I think the district has done a good thing in bringing a man to this district that can do that,” Wayman said of Kelly.

“I have known him for a number of years, and he helped us several years ago with school improvement that takes us back quite a while,” Wayman added.

Kelly worked three years in the office of the Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction, leading school turnaround efforts statewide, involving 285 schools. Since the 2015-16 school year, he has been at Lyle, a district of about 300 students located on the Washington side of the Columbia River, between Hood River and The Dalles, OR.

“I think he’s perfect for this district, and he’s good at putting people together and building trust,” Wayman said. “That’s what this district needs.”

Pinnick said Kelly believes in “kids first,” accountability and transparency: “He’s a leader that will take us forward. We have been in a tough situation.”

He thanked the Board, staff, teachers, principals and others for giving he and Wayman the opportunity to “calm the water, to work with us, to share real stories from their perspectives about what happened, and what we need to do in the future.”

“Davy and I are only a phone call away to help Mr. Kelly,” Pinnick said.

Since it was going to be Wayman’s last meeting, with Pinnick still planning on attending through July, he got a warm send-off from the Board.

“I just want to say thank you for stepping in and coming back,” said Board member Linda Poplin. “We truly appreciate it and we can already see the results.”

They both got a warm ovation from the audience.

Watch D.O.G.S

In other action, the Board formally approved allowing members of the local “Watch D.O.G.S.” group to begin volunteering in schools starting in September.

The effort is being led by Mike Armbruster, an Ocean Shores resident whose son attends North Beach High School. Before moving to Ocean Shores, Armbruster had 12 years of experience with the Watch D.O.G.S. program in Bremerton area schools.

Watch D.O.G.S. (the acronym stands for Dads Of Great Students) began in 1998 at a single school in Springdale, Ark., and has since “brought hundreds of thousands of fathers and father figures into the school classrooms and hallways across the country,” according to the group’s website, dadsofgreatstudents.com.

Armbruster told the Board June 19 that training is mandatory for the volunteers, who go through a refresher period before they start their responsibilities.

“That’s why they ask you to show up 30 minutes before the school day starts, so you can get your training,” Armbruster said. They also must report to the school’s volunteer coordinator, who also helps determine the tasks that are most needed.

One person asked how Armbruster would respond to parents who might see the volunteers as a form of intimidation.

A kickoff event will be at the high school, tentatively scheduled Aug. 28. Armbruster can be reached through his Facebook page.