Gonzaga grad picked to head Whitefish schools

Kathryn “Kate” Orozco will take over the helm of the Whitefish School District this summer.

The Whitefish School Board approved hiring Orozco at a special meeting Tuesday, Superintendent Jerry House said. Orozco will take over for House when he retires in June after 11 years as head of the district.

Orozco will make $112,500 for a 260-day contract, district Clerk Danelle Reisch said. Benefits include standard holidays, sick and personal leave and a $10,000 stipend in lieu of health insurance.

The stipend costs the district less than health insurance benefits would, Reisch said.

Orozco, 51, is associate superintendent in charge of curriculum and instruction in the North Platte, Neb., school district. There are about 4,100 students in the district, which includes 10 elementary schools, two middle schools, a high school and an alternative high school.

Orozco received her bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from Gonzaga University in Spokane. She has an administrative degree from the University of Nebraska Kearney.

She has spent the last two years in North Platte. Before that, she spent six years in Spokane with the Small Schools Project, a Seattle-based organization that offers support and consulting to districts “interested in redesigning education.”

Orozco also worked as an adjunct professor with Gonzaga, working in Canada with teachers and administrators in the master’s program. Before that, she spent 20 years as a teacher, primarily in fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms.

She was one of three finalists who interviewed for the Whitefish position.

McPherson & Jacobson LLC, an Omaha, Neb.-based recruitment and development firm, reviewed and screened 22 applicants from 11 states. Trustees then chose three people to interview: Orozco; Robert K. Gratz, superintendent of the Hackettstown, N.J., school district; and J.T. Stroder, superintendent of the Ingram Independent School District in Ingram, Texas.

The board interviewed all three candidates earlier this month.

Board chairwoman Pat Jarvi said that while all the candidates had strengths that could have been beneficial to the district, the trustees were impressed with Orozco’s background.

Trustees liked Orozco’s “history of teacher coaching and administrative support, looking for strengths and weaknesses in the classroom and what can be done to improve instruction,” said Jarvi, adding that the board was impressed with Orozco’s “ability to listen and seemingly to hear what’s really being said.”

Jarvi said she was also pleased with Orozco’s rapport with students.

“Watching her interact with students at the high school was really impressive. She has a way with students,” she said.

Trustee Dave Fern said he was impressed with Orozco’s temperament.

“My initial thought was she just seemed to be a good match, especially for our educators. She seemed really tuned in well to the world and to educators and could easily relate to them,” he said.

Orozco also seemed to be a good fit for the Whitefish community, Fern added.

“Obviously all of our candidates were outsiders,” he said. “But I felt despite the fact she’s not worked in the state of Montana, I felt she was kind of kindred spirits to our community.”

Orozco said she felt drawn to the community from the beginning of the application process and was impressed with the people she met while interviewing in Whitefish.

“I’m really hopeful that my first impressions are accurate, that the community is close-knit. They seem to care deeply about each other and about their kids. It seems like common sense prevails” in the district, she said.

She hopes to arrive in Montana in early June, which will give her a chance to get to know the district before House retires. House said he will be on hand to help Orozco through her “transition period.”

“I’ll be here for as long as she wants, to talk about anything she’s interested in talking about,” he said. “We’re both happy to do that, to take the time to do it.”

Orozco will move to Whitefish with her husband, Paul, who is retired from the U.S. Forest Service. Their blended family includes eight children “from ages 27 down to 5 years old,” she said.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.