Kris Samick moves from interim to official PES principal

Kris Samick isn’t done with Patricksburg Elementary School (PES).

After a year of being interim principal at the school she taught at for 17 years, Samick was offered the official position. The PES staff had repeatedly asked if she would stay, and after talking to Spencer-Owen Community Schools Corporation Superintendent Andy Cline, Samick was set up to continue what she started.

“One of the reasons I decided to stay and apply was because they wrote a letter to Mr. Cline, asking if I could stay another year, just for consistency and to continue on the changes that we had made, to get them more embedded in our culture,” Samick said.

During her year at PES, Samick said she heard people say the school felt very similar to how it did about 20 years ago. The school has a family atmosphere and many students are the children of kids she taught years ago, Samick said.

“It’s a very calm building,” Samick said. “It’s a happy building, and I’d like to keep it that way.”

Samick became interim principal last year on short notice, just two days before the school year began, because former principal Mike Robison was on medical leave.

She taught at Spencer Elementary School for seven years and had done administrative work at the S-OCS Central Office for eight years, including positions as S-OCS director of communications and district readiness coordinator, which she will continue in. Samick had gotten used to looking at the corporation-wide strategic plan and was able to see the school with a “district point of view.”

“It helped that I knew a lot of the staff too, but what I knew is that we had strong teachers and they just needed support,” Samick said.

One of the first things she did was send out a survey asking teachers and all other staff members how she could help support them during the academic year. With that input, Samick said she prioritized communication and being visible throughout the school year.

Samick strove to be accessible by being out at the car pickup and dropoff lines. The staff should be at the door, welcoming kids into the building, Samick said.

“The best way we can teach them is have them there in the building, so if we can make it a fun place to be, kids want to be there and then when they’re there, they learn,” Samick said.

During the 2026-2027 school year, Samick plans to work on the district’s math interventions to be in line with state guidelines. She redid the schedule to ensure that the school offers a common time in the day for kids to work on the skills and standards they need.

“We’re trying to just plug kids in where they need the most assistance,” Samick said. “If they need help with math fluency or maybe just number sense, we want to drill down and meet our kids where they need us.”

When it comes to giving kids the assistance they need, Cline said Samick has prioritized making sure the needs of students of all abilities are met.

“Whether a child was dealing with a health impairment or whatever it may have been, trying to make it as normal as possible for the student to be successful,” Cline said. “Just taking time to involve all of the parties that need to be at the table to ensure those successes for children.”

She also plans to bolster student attendance by instilling an “intrinsic motivation” to learn. For PES, this means being a model for good behavior and citizenship. Samick’s philosophy for leading is to keep the kids at the forefront of all decisions and treat the teachers how she would want to be treated.

Cline said Samick puts lots of thought into the elementary school’s operations and takes the time to make changes for the betterment of the school and its students.

“Patricksburg is a hidden jewel, because it’s small, it’s a very nice building, the staff genuinely cares about the kids and wants what’s best for them, and they are fiercely protective of the students,” Samick said. “And I think when you come in the building, you can feel that there’s a great culture there, and that kids are happy, and the staff’s happy.”