New Principal At Starbuck

STARBUCK - The Starbuck School District may have lost a beloved staff member, Karl Edie, as he moves on to new opportunities, but in his place students and staff members have gained an experienced professional who is ready to take charge in the district.

Starbuck School Board members officially appointed Laura Christian as the new prin­cipal at the Thursday, June 28 board meeting.

School board Chairwoman Carol Wildman said the decision to approve Christian was bit­tersweet because, despite their excitement to bring Christian on as the new principal, they are all sorry to have lost former teacher and principal Edie who has been at Starbuck for six years.

"We're sorry to have lost (Edie)," Wildman said. "He was a tremendous asset to our school and a great teacher."

Edie will be heading to Mat­tawa near Vantage with his wife and four children, three of whom were enrolled in Starbuck.

"We enjoyed Edie very much and I had a good working rela­tionship with him," school board member Jill Wood said. "But, I know that people move on and life changes."

The school board is looking forward to the newly appointed principal and Wildman said she thinks Christian will be a good fit for the school.

"We are really looking for­ward to her coming here," Wild­man said.

Christian said she is excited about moving to Starbuck and working in the rural community.

"I've always liked small schools because there's so much more you can do for the kids when the numbers are small," Christian said. "I've always lived in rural places although I've never worked in a school quite as small as Starbuck."

Wildman said Christian has six years of experience as a prin­cipal, coming from the Pateros School District, near Brewster, and is special education certi­fied.

Along with the appointment of a new principal, Wildman said there will also be a new schedule for the principal. Chris­tian will teach half time and do administrative work half time. Christian said she is looking for­ward to the split schedule.

"One of the things I missed when I went into administration was the daily contact with kids in a positive way," Christian said. "A lot of times I only got to have contact with the kids for disciplinary matters. So I'll have half of the day to help be constructive and then the other half wrapping up administrative duties."

Christian said she will pos­Laura sibly be teaching kindergarten and she will know for sure after meeting with the board later this month to make the final deci­sion.

Wood said Christian's ap­proval was unanimous across the board.

"It was a very positive pre­sentation," Wood said. "Her recommendations were very positive so we took it that she would fit in with our staff here in Starbuck."

Next week, Christian will to meet with her. "One of the exciting things we've heard was that she has horses," Wood said. "A couple of the other board members and I also ride, so we can all have something in common."

Christian said she is looking forward to getting to know the community and the culture of the area as well as discovering the unique things Starbuck has to offer.