One of Maria Kaimana’s favorite hobbies is white water rafting. Now, she’s navigating a new set of rapids as Skyline’s newest assistant principal.
Ms. Kaimana spoke with the Oracle on Aug. 21, sharing her experiences and future plans. Under Principal Rebecca Huang, Ms. Kaimana oversees the Community Health and Education (CHED) pathway, English Learners and Special Education among other duties. Adjusting
to her new role has been both exciting and demanding.
“I think it’s a really fun opportunity to grow,” she said, mentioning how important it is to slow down, listen and understand different perspectives when solving problems.
Ms. Kaimana brings over a decade of teaching experience to Skyline. In college, she worked as a tutor and adviser with the East Bay Consortium. Her first tutoring role was at Skyline.
Ms. Kaimana worked at a rural school in North Carolina for a few years and then went on to teach English at Envision Academy for 10 years, primarily to juniors and seniors. Later, she became an instructional coach.
Last December, she began a master’s degree and administrative program, preparing her for her current role at Skyline.
Coming from Envision, a small school of 200 kids, Ms. Kaimana said she is excited to be a part of a bigger community.
“It’s really fun to be at a big school with a lot of electives and different people,” she said.
Still, the size of Skyline has posed some challenges like time management when walking across the campus and taking charge of the Williams Act audit. That job required her to ensure each classroom had sufficient books and materials.
Despite these challenges, Ms. Kaimana views her role as an adventure. She said she was especially excited about Skyline’s variety of electives and opportunities for students.
Overall, Ms. Kaimana said her main focus is not changing what works, but improving communicative systems and striving to build stronger connections among administrators, teachers and students.
“I don’t want to come in and change things that people don’t want changed,” she said. Kaimana sees “so many parallels” between river guiding and being an assistant principal. “The goal is to stay in the right water so the current is moving you forward and everyone is enjoying the ride,” she said.
