Dear Hope Families, Faculty, Staff, Friends and Community,

On behalf of the School Board, it is my pleasure to announce that Kristen Okabayashi has accepted our offer to become the Principal of Hope Lutheran School effective August 2, 2010.

Kristen is an experienced educator with a passion for Christian education and in particular for Hope Church and School. She comes to Hope via Concordia Lutheran School in Seattle where she served as the Director of Preschool and Summer Enrichment Programs and where she built those programs to the highly-sought-after, robust programs they are today. She graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration and holds a Masters Degree of Arts in Teaching from Seattle Pacific University. She spent a number of years in children’s ministry at Calvary Chapel in Seattle and several years in management at a large childcare center prior to that. Kristen has a deep personal faith and is committed to academic excellence. She believes that the key to student success lies in building strong relationships and in creating a well-balanced partnership between the students, parents and the faculty so that the God-given gifts of each child can be fully nurtured and developed. Kristen and her husband Scott were Hope parents from 2004 to 2007 as their four boys, Ryan,12, Alex,10, Ben, 7, and David, 7 attended our school during that time. With her prior experience here, Kristen is uniquely equipped to understand the needs and the growth opportunities at Hope and brings with her a very strong passion for this place.

Kristen’s acceptance is the culmination of an extensive search process that was carried out by the Principal Call Committee. The process began in early April following the announcement by Jeff Allen that he would not be returning for the 2010-11 school year. The process involved working with the Northwest District of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod as well as obtaining referrals from the church and school community. The initial search yielded a number of high-quality candidates; that pool was narrowed to the top two candidates through a series of written and phone interviews. The top two candidates were brought on-site for meetings with faculty, staff, School Board, and other church leadership groups. It was a unanimous decision to recommend to the Hope congregation that Kristen be hired as our new principal, and at the congregational meeting on July 11th, the congregational assembly voted to approve this recommendation.

Hope is extremely excited at the way in which the search process progressed. God’s hand was truly at work as He led the group through the search, qualifying, interviewing and decision-making processes. We feel blessed to have emerged from this process with such a high-quality, passionate, and Christ-centered person to lead our school ministry. As we look at the upcoming summer and fall calendar, we will plan an opportunity for families to meet Kristen and her family and welcome them into the Hope family.

We look forward to the 2010-11 school year and are highly confident that with Kristen’s talents and strengths, with our collective support and prayers, and with God’s guidance, that it will be a successful and exciting year for us!

In Christ –
Mike Jensen,
Chairman Hope Lutheran School Board