CdM, TeWinkle name new principals

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District announced Friday that it has selected new principals for TeWinkle Middle and Corona del Mar High schools.

The two most recent hires will be the latest principals to join the district during a summer when seven campuses so far have new top administrators.

Kira Hurst, formerly an administrator in the Huntington Beach Union High School District, will become principal at TeWinkle.

Kathy Scott is leaving her job as principal of Oxford Academy in the Anaheim Union High School District to lead CdM.

“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to serve with such a strong and committed school community as Corona del Mar High,” Scott said in a prepared statement. “My hope is to collaboratively lead the CdM teachers and students to the next level of greatness.”

Newport-Mesa Unified praised her credentials in a news release, saying Scott led Oxford when it had California’s top API score in 2012 and when it earned recognition as a California Distinguished School and National Blue Ribbon school.

Before becoming an administrator, Hurst taught social studies and Spanish at the middle and high school levels, according to Newport-Mesa Unified’s news release.

The district also praised Hurst’s experience studying and teaching overseas for decades. She worked at the Department of Defense schools for dependents of military members.

In order to make the hires official, the school board must approve them at its Aug. 27 meeting.

One vacancy remains. Newport-Mesa Unified is still looking for a principal to lead Lincoln Elementary School in Newport Beach.

Officials hope to interview candidates next week and announce a decision by the first week of September, district spokeswoman Laura Boss said in an email.

If needed, a principal who retired from Anderson Elementary School, Mary Manos, will take the reins through September, Boss said.