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AUGUSTA — Kristie Clark, principal at Hall-Dale Elementary School, in Hallowell, has been named Maine’s National Association of Elementary School Principals Distinguished Principal of the Year for 2021, the Maine Principal’s Association announced.
Clark, a University of Maine at Farmington graduate, was a longtime teacher and administrator in Lewiston, where she was a Maine Teacher of the Year nominee in 2001, before moving on to Hall-Dale in 2018.
She will be honored by the MPA at a virtual awards evening on April 29, along with Jaime Stone, principal at Camden Rockport Middle School, the Maine National Associatoin of Secondary Schools Principal of the Year.
Clark won the award because of her enthusiasm and passion for her work, according to a news release from the MPA. She has a clear mission for Hall-Dale Elementary, “to provide every child with an equitable experience to ensure success,” the release said. “Her classroom is the whole school because she has the heart of a teacher.”
MPA Executive Director of the Professional Division Holly Couturier said, “Principal Clark is not just a principal. Educating children is who she is to the core. Her energy and enthusiasm are contagious. She is a true advocate for education.”
Clark graduated cum laude from UMF in 1991, with a bachelor of science in elementary education in 1991. She earned a master of science in elementary reading and literacy from Walden University, in Minneapolis, in 2003.
She taught at Montello Elementary School in Lewiston before becoming assistant principal at Geiger Elementary School, also in Lewiston in 2011. She was later director for English Language Learners for the Lewiston School Department. In 2014, Clark became principal of James B Longley Elementary School, also in Lewiston.
Clark won the Milken National Educator Award in 2010. She is also a member of the NAESP, Association of Supervision and Evaluation and the MPA.
