By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
In a year that tested schools, teachers, students and parents unlike any other, the leader of Waldport Middle/High School has been chosen Oregon’s middle school principal of the year.
Amy Skirvin, who has been the middle/high school principal for three years, will now represent Oregon in the national secondary principal of the year competition. The selection was made by the Coalition of Oregon School Administrators, which each year honors a top-performing elementary, middle and high school principal.
That Skirvin was chosen for the Oregon honor is of little surprise to her co-workers.
“Amy really empowers people, establishes a level of trust and then there’s a whole lot of support after that,” said assistant principal/athletic director Steve Cooper, who drew together a staff committee to write a nominating letter to COSA. “She’s a problem-solver. Every time there’s a barrier, she finds out how to go through or around it.”
In the nominating letter, Cooper said Skirvin quickly made herself an expert in online instructional techniques when the coronavirus pandemic shut Lincoln County schools 13 months ago. In addition to helping staff adjust, she held weekly Zoom meetings with parents to help them understand online instruction, and held online “fireside chats” from her home each Thursday evening to just talk with parents and staff about the constant changes.
“Amy is able to gain buy-in through her positive attitude, sense of humor, and incredible work ethic,” the nomination letter said.
School is a family affair
Skirvin came to Waldport in 2018 from Clatskanie, where she had been principal of its middle/high school for five years, following a short stint as an assistant principal and athletic director there. She was a physical education/health teacher and activities director at Scappoose High School from 2004-12.
Her job now is a bit of a family affair. Her husband, Jeff Skirvin, is a popular forestry teacher at the high school. Her oldest son, Zak, is a high school junior, and 13-year-old twins Kiana and Kelden are middle school seventh-graders.
She found out about her award on April 13 – her 40th birthday – when her family and staff began gathering outside her office.
“I thought they were coming in to do some birthday stuff,” she laughed. “It was a surprise.”
Over the last three years, the nominating letter said Skirvin has helped increase career technical education and advanced placement classes, and dual-credit and early college credit offerings.
The number of students at the middle/high school even increased to 299 this year, up 22 from a year ago. Of those, 103 are in the middle school (seventh and eighth grade) wing, and 196 in high school.
The school has a staff of 21 teachers and classified employees and shares six specialists with the adjacent Crestview Heights School.
Cooper said Skirvin also attends every evening school activity, including all home and away athletic events.
“Amy gives recognition for students through a strong Facebook presence,” the nominating letter said. “Amy is continually pushing students and staff to step out of their comfort zone to try new ideas … and then celebrates those efforts individually and publicly.”
Empower, collaborate, communicate
Despite all the complexities of education, instruction, hundreds of different students and staff, Skirvin easily runs through her basic management practices.
They include: understand the community, including students and parents; reach for and expect excellence; pass praise and compliments to staff, and take blame for them when appropriate; and “own my own mistakes by admitting you messed up and correct it.”
“I believe big time on collaboration whether that’s staff, students or community,” she said in an interview with YachatsNews.
And it’s important to develop a culture in the school that’s not centered on who you are, but how you feel when you enter the building.
“I want a school where people want to be,” Skirvin said.
That included everything from bringing back middle school sports to beginning an anti-bullying campaign.
And then the pandemic closed buildings and sent most instruction online for most of the year. High school students just returned to the building last week.
In addition to suddenly learning online instruction tools and skills, Skirvin said her emphasis was to support and encourage staff.
“It was a lot of encouragement, a lot of ‘It’s Ok to not be OK’,” she said. “Just giving them the tools and the support.”
But no matter how online instruction went, having kids in school is by far the best for most of them.
“I’ve seen a huge improvement since kids came back,” Skirvin said. “Now that they’re here, they’re more engaged. It’s nice to have that structure, sitting at a desk with a teacher in the room.
“But our kids here are amazing,” she said. “They’re resilient.”
What others said:
“Amy has demonstrated tremendous leadership and compassion in a time of challenge and sorrow. She has worked diligently and effectively the last three years to create a space for genuine trusting relationships academic rigor and collaborative community for her school and in her area.”
- Karen Gray, Lincoln County School District superintendent
“Amy led us through COVID-19. She stayed calm as we looked to her to help guide and support us. We were so apprehensive about learning new technology and she was patient as she taught us how to Zoom, Google Classroom, etc. She never made us feel like we were ignorant as we navigated through a new way of teaching. We are immensely grateful for her guidance.”
- Amy Bryant, teacher
“I was with her today when she let a student know that they were in violation of the dress code, but then later upon looking the policy up, saw that the policy had been changed over the summer to eliminate gender bias. Amy went back to apologize to the student, saying that the policy had been changed and now they were actually not in violation … she made it a point to teach the student that sometimes you are right and sometimes you are wrong, but you have to own it either way.”
- Denise Krause, counselor
“This is my 33rd year in education and I can say I learn something new from Amy each and every day. I have never worked with a more thoughtful, effective and visionary principal.”
- Steve Cooper, assistant principal/athletic director