New Cinnabar School Principal Ken Silman has found for him the perfect job in the perfect place. He is principal/superintendent of a small school in a beautiful town near golf courses and water.
Silman. 48, has taken a circuitous route to the small TK-through eighth-grade hilltop school on Skillman Lane.
An east coast native, he was born in New Jersey and lived in both New York and Oklahoma before attending high school in Pleasanton and living in Byron and Brentwood, towns he describes as “Suburban with a bit of that country feel. A lot like Petaluma.” He has lived the last two years in Petaluma.
He began is professional career as a sportswriter in the Bay Area, before switching to education a little over 20 years ago. He has accomplished much in those two decades, teaching (English, yearbook, journalism), working as an administrator and even serving on a school board. For the last seven years he has been an administrator in the Jefferson School District in Tracy.
He said he has found a home. “My ultimate dream was to be a superintendent in a small school district,” he said. With a little more than 200 students and one school, the Cinnabar School District fits that definition.
Silman’s approach to education is one of inclusion. “As a teacher, administrator, board member and now the principal/superintendent of Cinnabar School, my passion is to give every one of my students the tools, support and guidance needed to find success in education and in life.
“Math, science, English and history are important subjects, but we are building a whole child, teaching life skills as well. Activities, life experiences and social skills are just as much of what we do in education as specific subjects.
“The best feeling ever is to see a student who has struggled achieve success.”
Silman said his first job is to learn about the school and the community.
“In my first 90 days I have two key goals that I would like to achieve,” he said. “The first is to build the relationships and trust necessary to make systemic change, if and when needed. I will elicit input through surveys, direct interactions and questions, but I also will make myself available through email, calls or meetings either via Zoom or in person.
“My second goal is to work to identify areas that are working and make sure we sustain them and at the same time identify areas that may need a change or a tweak. I will not do this in isolation, but by using data and feedback from all stakeholders as well as my own research.”
The new superintendent said he inherits a strong faculty and staff. “From everything I see, they have great ideas and I can’t wait to hear more of them,” he said.
He said it is important for Cinnabar students to get the school year off to a good start. “Because of COVID the students have had a couple of years of learning loss and not just academic loss, but loss of socialization and emotional growth. I have some ideas for getting back to normalcy at school,” he said.
Cinnabar had an enrollment of 220 last school year and so far this year stands at 206. Silman hopes to see a few more students before the start of school. Like all small schools, Cinnabar works with a tight budget, the new superintendent said his experience as a school board member will help him in planning his own budget at his new school. “For me, the job is to make sure we use the money to educate the kids,” he said.
Silman said he would like to do more outreach into the community, and to get the school and its students more involved in the community. “Cinnabar is a unique place for kids to come and learn. We want the community to know about us,” he explained.
Silman said his biggest concern about fulfilling his goal of being a superintendent was losing the day-to-day contact with the students. He noted that would not happen at Cinnabar.
“That was my biggest fear leaving the classroom that I would not have the same impact on students, one-by-one individually that I had as a teacher. As a vice principal and then a principal, I discovered I was able to impact both individual students and then make whole group change.
“My biggest fear of moving into a superintendent position was not having day-to-day interaction with students, but this position gives me the best of all worlds, daily interactions with students, which fuels my energy for my job, and the opportunity to create policy and programs on a global scale that impact every student presently in the classes and those that are to come down the road.”
Cinnabar fills superintendent/principal position - Petaluma Argus Courier
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