Panther Path has been the home to Peeples Elementary School, Rising Starr Middle School, and Starr’s Mill High School since 1998, and yet this is the first time in the history of the Path that each school has received a new principal in the same year.
“We have three new visions that are coming together, and that’s where we get the community,” Starr’s Mill High School Principal Jamie Voorhies said. “We’re going to work as a community to better our students.”
After former Starr’s Mill High School principal Allen Leonard got promoted to head of transportation, Jamie Voorhies was selected to succeed him. At Rising Starr Middle School, assistant principal Mark Henderson was promoted to principal when Kathy Smith retired. At Peeples Elementary School, Buffy Blodgett was promoted to the county office and Jeannie Inagawa was given her position as principal.
“We already had a working relationship, so we collaborate on things whenever we get any parent input,” Inagawa said.
The community on Panther Path is one of the strongest school communities out there, and having all three principals being new means that the whole of Panther Path can become better.
“We’ve talked about being cohesive on Panther Path,” Henderson said.
With all of the change happening at once, there have certainly been challenges to overcome, especially with time. These three principals only had a few months to get accustomed to the new school and position before the year started, so there has certainly been a learning curve, as there is with any new thing.
“Time has just been the biggest challenge, because I want to know it all now,” Inagawa said.
With great challenges comes great opportunities as well. These three new faces are working together to improve on the way that schools are run on Panther Path. Collaboration can benefit the students and their families, which are who these schools are truly for.
“When you have three people that are working together all the time to create a shared vision because you’re all new and you all want the same things, I think that was just a really great perfect storm that is going to benefit everybody on Panther Path, not just Starr’s Mill,” Voorhies said.
That is really what it is about. It is not just Starr’s Mill. It is the community that is Panther Path.
Through these three new people collaborating for the single goal of bettering the schools on the Path, you get a team that can push forward and bring Panther Path into a new era.