‘It really is a lifestyle’: Medical Lake alum returns to lead school district, carrying on family legacy of educating

Kim Headrick was destined to become an educator.

Her father is a retired Medical Lake High School Principal. Her mother was a longtime second -grade teacher in the district. Her brother is an assistant principal in the Cashmere School District in Chelan County.

And this summer, Headrick will take over as Medical Lake School District’s new superintendent.

“We eat, breathe and live education,” Headrick said of her family. “It really is a lifestyle.”

Headrick, her husband, Curtis, and their two children even live in a former one-room school house near Medical Lake. She and her husband converted it into their family home.

Current Superintendent Tim Ames announced his plans to retire late last year. At the same meeting that the school board accepted Ames’ resignation effective June 30, they appointed Headrick, who currently serves as assistant superintendent, to take over.

“It was an easy decision and couldn’t be a better fit,” School Board President Wendy Williams-Gilbert said, according to meeting minutes. “We are all excited to have you as the next superintendent and excited to see where the future leads.”

Returning home

Headrick, 52, said she “spread her wings a little bit” after graduating from Medical Lake High School and went to the University of Washington to study education. She returned to Spokane to student teach at Shadle Park High School.

She then moved to Las Vegas, where she taught middle school English and pursued a master’s degree in K-12 administration at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

After completing the degree, she worked in middle school administration in Las Vegas for nearly a decade. With two young kids, home was calling, so Headrick and her husband moved to Cle Elum, where she spent another eight years as a middle school principal.

The assistant superintendent position in Medical Lake opened up just as Headrick finished her superintendent certification through Washington State University.

Catering to community

For the last 10 years, Headrick has served the community that made her, she said.

The district’s motto is “every student, every day” something Headrick hopes to uphold as the district’s top leader.

Medical Lake is a unique school district, with 45-48% of students connected to Fairchild Air Force Base.

The district has an elementary school on base and one in town, along with a middle and high school.

Headrick plans to continue the work done by Ames to focus on the unique pressures on military families, she said.

“We really take pride in knowing if we have parents that are deployed, providing additional support for students that way,” Headrick said.

While the district’s enrollment numbers have yet to return to pre-pandemic levels, Headrick plans to continue a survey of the district’s facilities and monitor area growth.

She also hopes to continue to honor the sense of community Medical Lake is known for. That started with hiring Rob Haugen to replace her as assistant superintendent. Haugen, who currently serves as director of elementary education in the Mead School District, is also a Medical Lake graduate, Headrick said with a smile.

“I have a sense of pride for Medical Lake School District and Fairchild Airforce base and the work that we have done,” Headrick said. “I am absolutely honored and thrilled to be able to continue that work and build for our future.”