CMS educator is state Assistant Principal of the Year

PALMER — Casey Hull has come a long way during his 15-year career as an educator — figuratively and literally — culminating in Hull being named the 2013-14 Assistant Principal of the Year by the Alaska Association of Secondary School Principals.

Fresh out of college with a teaching certificate in 1999, Hull and his wife moved to the Last Frontier for their first teaching positions. He taught second- and third-graders in the village of New Stuyahok. After five years in the Bush, Hull moved to the Valley, teaching a year in Houston, then spending four years as a school counselor at Wasilla Middle School. Hull is now in his fifth year as assistant principal at Colony Middle School, a position Hull said he loves.

“It really is just the personality of these kids,” he said about mentoring students at the middle school level. “It’s a crazy group of kids to work with. They are babies when they come to us, but they are trying to be adults and it’s a crazy time. To be somebody to help them problem-solve some of the issues they have in the middle school years … is amazing.”

Hull was nominated for the honor by his principal, Mary McMahon.

“He is a true leader, one who is here to serve and do what is best for staff and students,” she says in her nomination. “He works hard to build relational capacity with our entire school community.”

One of the stereotypes of the job is that the assistant principal is the “heavy” at the school, the administrator who administers the discipline, making him or her feared among the student body. While handling discipline is part of the job, Hull said he just doesn’t have the personality to be that stereotypical menacing figure.

“My first year here, I was asked to come to a team meeting and be the heavy hand,” he said. “They wanted me to be that role and I said, ‘you know, I’ll come and love them up.’ If you know me, that comes from the counseling years I’ve had.”

Rather than simply dishing out punishment, Hull said he also focuses on the underlying problems that may contribute to unwanted student behavior.

“For me, it’s about helping them find solutions,” he said. “So, when they wind up in my office, it’s not so much about punishment, it’s about what do we do now? I feel like I’m pretty effective using my counseling side. Don’t get me wrong, though, I still have to do the discipline.”

That effort isn’t lost on Colony Middle School students. Nick Stark, a former CMS student, commented on Hull’s ability to show genuine interest in his students.

“He will go out of his way to lift your spirits when you’re down,” Stark said. “He takes time to talk to students about what they are interested in, even if it’s not a topic he’s necessarily interested in. … He really sees the good in people, even if it’s a student who gets into trouble often. He continues to work with them and never gives up. He believes in us.”

It’s that type of impact that has made Hull a memorable teacher for his students. It’s something Hull learned a couple years ago, when his first class of second-graders in New Stuyahok graduated high school. Of all the teachers they had over their time as students, they asked Hull to come back and speak at their graduation.

“Those kids were graduating high school and they asked me to come back and speak at their graduation,” he said. “To see where those kids were at and the direction they were all going … was rewarding to know that in that little snapshot of time, I made a difference in what they did.”

Now that he’s won the AASSP Assistant Principal of the Year honor, Hull is now in the running for the National Association of Secondary School Principals national honor. He’ll travel to Washington, D.C., in April with the other 49 state winners for that announcement.

After that, it’s back to Colony Middle School, he said.

“I’m happy here,” he said. “People say that this might be a stepping stone for the next level, but I’m happy where I’m at. I love the staff here at CMS and I love the kids and parents. I have a great job and I’m not ready to step off right now and take a chance of not being as happy as I am now.”

Contact Greg Johnson at 352-2269 or greg.johnson@frontiersman.com.