Principal
"Paul Kaminski
I am thrilled to be Cummings Valley Elementary's interim principal after the retirement of my friend, David Spencer. Good luck to Spence as he starts his new life with wife Jan in Northern California. I told everyone a couple of weeks ago that I would post information about myself on the CV website once I had access, so here goes.
My tenure with Tehachapi USD began in 1995 when I was hired to teach 6th grade at Golden Hills Elementary. It was my first job in education after years with Thrifty Drug Stores in management, the last two years as store manager at their Brundage Lane location in Bakersfield. I never did work at the Thrifty's in Tehachapi, which is now a Rite Aid. After 4 years in 6th grade I moved down to 3rd grade where I taught for 3 of the next 4 years. I spent one year as a Title I reading instructor after earning my reading specialist credential and my Masters in reading. After that I taught 4th grade for 3 years; all of these assignments were at Golden Hills. My administration career started in 2006 as the vice principal at Golden Hills and Cummings Valley. I spent half a day at each site. In March of 2007 I was pink-slipped due to budget concerns and was prepared to go back into the classroom when the opening came up at Jacobsen Middle School as vice principal. I was fortunate to get it and was there until the opportunity came with Mr. Spencer's retirement. Now I have been back at Cummings Valley for two weeks and I am loving it! The kids are great and so is the staff!
As for my education, I received my BS in Business Administration from CSU- Sacramento in 1977. When I decided to go into education, I earned my teaching credential from the University of La Verne in 1995 and, as I mentioned above, my Masters in reading, also from La Verne. My adminstration training also was done through La Verne in 2005, when I received my Masters in educational leadership. I am a member of the Association of California School Administrators and the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD). I will be attending the ASCD national conference the last weekend of March and hope to bring our staff information that will make all of us better educators of your children.
On the personal side, I have been married to my wife Marilyn for 32 years. Marilyn is a Tehachapi native and a graduate of THS. We met while we were in marching band at CSU-Sacramento. She teaches piano in our home and has been doing that for 30 years. We have two children. Joey is a graduate of Bakersfield College and is employed by the district as a full-time custodian at Tehachapi High School. Our daughter Jennifer is a graduate of Biola University and Western School of Health Sciences. She is employed as a physician's assistant at Riverside Cardiology Associates in Riverside. Her exciting news is her planned wedding July 2nd of this year!