Second time's a charm for Kings County Administrator of Year Sandi Lowe

By Ed Martin, The Leader Editor
Joining Lemoore's latest Kings County Administrator of the Year (from left to right) is daughter Lynzi, Cheryl Symonds, a Jamison staff member, Lowe, and her daughter Katie.
Joining Lemoore's latest Kings County Administrator of the Year (from left to right) is daughter Lynzi, Cheryl Symonds, a Jamison staff member, Lowe, and her daughter Katie.

Lemoore Union High School District’s Jamison High School has been a California State Board of Education Model School since 2010, and continues its impressive string of honors when it again was named a 2016 Model Continuation High School by State Superintendent Tom Torlakson.

What does it take to earn – year after year – Model School recognition? Well, having a leader whom students and staff respect, might have a little to do with it. In fact, it takes a model principal to run a model school, and the Kings County Office of Education, during its annual Excellence in Education Awards Ceremony Tuesday night, honored Lemoore’s Sandi Lowe as its 2016 Administrator of the Year, the second time she’s earned the honor in her 14-year tenure as the school’s top principal.

“You know, you work hard every day, and when you get something like that (award), it’s sort of a validation of things you think you’re doing well.”

Lemoore High School’s Rachel Salgado, an English teacher on the main campus, was a finalist for an award, but lost out in the end to Pioneer’s Stacey Snodgrass. The Classified Employee of the Year was Amparo Vryhof, of the Kings River-Hardwick School District. Lemoore’s Tammi Goff was the district’s Employee of the Year.

“I was definitely surprised,” said Lowe from the cozy confines of her office at the Gertrude Gundacker Alternative Education Complex, the site of Jamison High School, the district’s continuation school. “You know, you work hard every day, and when you get something like that (award), it’s sort of a validation of things you think you’re doing well.”

Lowe is the first administrator in Kings County to be honored twice. She earned the award in 2005 after only three years as Jamison’s principal. Altogether, she’s served the Lemoore Union High School District for 24 years as a teacher, coach, assistant principal and Jamison High principal.

Lemoore’s current Superintendent, Debbie Muro, has worked with Sandi for most of her 24 years. “Sandi is an extraordinary administrator who has a huge heart for at-risk students.  That is what makes her so successful,” she said.  “She and her staff ensure that all of the students at Jamison High School are provided the opportunity to be successful, not only during high school, but they also prepare them to be successful in their future endeavors.”

There must be something about Lemoore High School. Lowe is also a 1977 graduate, where she excelled as an athlete in several sports, including basketball, volleyball and softball. She earned All-America status as a high school basketball player, and later she played volleyball at Fresno State.

She is married to a former Navy aviator Rob Lowe, who teaches physics at Lemoore High School. They have two daughters: Lynzi, 26, a Hanford Elementary School counselor and Katie, 23, a communications major who has joined the Peace Corps and will travel to Tonga in August.

Donald C. Jamison High School, the district’s continuation school, is named in honor of a longtime teacher and administrator, the first principal of the former South High from 1974 to his retirement in 1983. Jamison was a defender and advocate for kids who were relegated to South High due to grade or discipline issues.

In 2016, under Lowe’s leadership, Jamison High has seven full-time teachers and one part-time teacher. The school also has a helpful support staff that meets with kids every day. The school runs on a 12-week trimester that helps kids earn credits more quickly.

The majority of our students are full-day students, while others have a modified schedule based on student needs. The teacher to student ratio is one teacher to approximately twenty students. The smaller number of students per class provides the opportunity for teachers to get to know the students, which in turn build a strong working relationship in the classroom.

The key to success with continuation students? “The key is building relationships with your staff and with the students,” said Lowe. “When you have positive relationships, and you empower people, great things will happen.

“I think we do a really good job of communicating with students,” she said. “I just think that communicating is so important. I think they understand who we are and why we do this.”

Lowe and her staff must be doing some right. Not only did they recently earn a six-year accreditation, the best you can get from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, but recently they learned that once again Jamison was named a Model Continuation School.

Jamison High currently has about 80 students enrolled this year.

The Model Continuation High School Recognition Program identifies and recognizes outstanding programs and creates a resource list of quality programs for school visitations. The schools selected provide comprehensive services to at-risk youth through exemplary instructional strategies, flexible scheduling and guidance and counseling services.

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