With three children of her own in middle school, Andrea Powers, the new OIS principal, lives middle school all day, every day.
Andrea Powers’ life is all about middle school. Her oldest daughter is in eighth grade. Her twins – a boy and girl – are in sixth grade. And now that she has taken on the job of principal at Orinda Intermediate School (OIS), it’s middle school all day, every day.
Powers left her post as assistant principal at Acalanes High School to officially begin her new job on July 1. Before her time at Acalanes, she taught social studies and leadership in the San Ramon Valley Unified School District.
Her 20-year career in education has been all high school, so this is a new chapter.
“After all those years of seeing ninth graders enter high school, I felt like I could help with the process of building up to high school for these students,” Powers said. “Knowing everything about what is expected of them – and what is coming – I felt I could take all that information and apply it to helping them be where they need to be to enter high school.”
Powers was selected through a rigorous interview process that included several staff and parent panels and formal presentations. She said three questions came up repeatedly.
“They wanted to know how you build a sense of community,” she said. “They asked, how do you build a culture of kindness? And they asked me how you build spaces where kids can be successful.”
Powers said the interview process helped her focus on the priorities of parents and staff members at OIS.
“I pride myself on being ‘people first.’ I think I can play a really big role in creating a place where staff can try new things,” she said. “And if I do that for staff, it filters down to students. My job is to look, listen and learn. We have staff who have institutional knowledge – and I want to take advantage of that.”
Asked if Orinda parents are intimidating, Powers said, “My first year of teaching I was told to remember and ground myself in the fact that parents are advocates for their kids. The job is to find common ground.”
“We are thrilled to welcome her to the Orinda and Bulldog community,” said Orinda Union School District Superintendent Aida Glimme. “She brings a strong commitment to student achievement, a collaborative leadership style and a focus on building inclusive learning
environments.”
Powers, whose father is from Sicily, spent her early years in Des Moines, Iowa. Her family moved to California, and she graduated from Dublin High School, subsequently earning degrees from Sacramento State University and California State University Hayward (now called East Bay). She lives in Danville with her husband, children and a pit/lab mix named Norman.
