Moving over from junior high
The Healdsburg Unified School District has released a statement naming Erika McGuire as the new principal for the Fitch Mountain Campus of Healdsburg Elementary and Charter Schools. She is currently the assistant principal at Healdsburg Junior High School.
McGuire will take over for current principal Beth Wolk, who is retiring at the end of the 2016-2017 school year.
McGuire has worked at HUSD for six years. She holds a degree from Sonoma State University in political science, and she started her career at Santa Rosa High School as a social science teacher before coming to Healdsburg High School to teach government and economics in 2011.
According to a statement from the district, McGuire was instrumental in cultivating the AVID program and led the Pedagogy Innovation Design Team resulting in a district-wide focus on inquiry-based learning. For the last three years she has served as assistant principal at Healdsburg Junior High where she has collaborated with staff to build a strong sense of community and inclusion through a variety of programs.
In the summer of 2016, she served as co-principal for the HUSD summer school program, overseeing instructional services for students in grades K-12. This year she has been serving as the director of student services, directing all AVID programs, fostering the development of Restorative Practices and serving as the primary district liaison with DELAC, the Spanish-speaking parent group.
“In all of her roles, McGuire is known for being an enthusiastic advocate for students,” Superintendent Chris Vanden Heuvel said in a statement. “She effortlessly develops strong, lasting relationships with students, staff and parents. Furthermore, she has a passion for addressing the needs of the whole child, recognizing that students’ social-emotional health will yield higher levels of academic achievement.
“This passion has distinguished her as a fervent leader of a variety of programs that address students’ needs,” he continued. “Such as the new SQUAD program at HJH and Restorative Practices at HHS and HJH. Finally, she is a long-time Healdsburg resident and valued community contributor. We are very excited to have such a strong student advocate and instructional leader as the new principal for Fitch Mountain Campus,” he concluded.
McGuire will continue as the HJH assistant principal and Director of Student Services for the remainder of this school year and will start as the Fitch Mountain principal on July 1. As noted above, McGuire is a Healdsburg resident. She is married to State Senator Mike McGuire.
