Photo By Sgt. Ryan Pulliam | A name placard for James Strait, the principal of Kubasaki High School, is at Kubasaki...... read more read more
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CAMP FOSTER, OKINAWA, Japan – The Department of Defense Education Activity selected James Strait, principal of Kubasaki High School, as the 2021 DoDEA Principal of the Year.
Kubasaki High School, located on Camp Foster, is the primary high school for children of U.S. Marines stationed on Okinawa to attend.
“It was a great honor not just for me, but for the school to get that recognition,” said Strait, a San Antonio, Texas, native. Humbly, Straight explained that while the title is addressed to him, Kubasaki High School’s name was also on the award’s citation which meant a lot to him in getting Kubasaki’s name in the limelight.
“James Strait is an extraordinary leader whose ability to bring everyone in the Kubasaki community together in support of students, teachers and excellence in education has had an enormous impact on student achievement and is truly an example for others to follow,” said Tom Brady, director of DoDEA.
Strait, a U.S. Army veteran of 22 years, has been the principal of Kubasaki High School since October 2019 and previously served as the DoDEA principal of Ramey Unit School in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico.
“To work for somebody who works harder than I do and sets his priorities kind of the same way I do is a treat,” said Dawn Pilon, the assistant principal of Kubasaki High School and native of Midland, Michigan.
Pilon, also an Army veteran, previously worked with Strait at Ramey Unit School. With the outbreak of COVID-19 in late 2019, Pilon had heard a lot about Strait’s forward-thinking strategies in Okinawa in addressing the pandemic.
“When I got here (at Kubasaki) and saw all of the things he had in place with the very processed procedures, I was just stunned at how prepared Kubasaki was and how prepared he made it with the mitigation strategies,” she said. “We were getting information from (Department of Defense) headquarters and then to DoDEA headquarters, but by the time they funneled down, he had already ordered all of the things we needed, made all of the signs, and, additionally, DoDEA wasn’t providing barriers for the lunchroom so we made our own. We were prepared to have the students come back a month before they came back.”
As Pilon hinted at, Strait’s actions and leadership in supporting Kubasaki’s students, parents, and staff through the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 contributed to DoDEA selecting him as the 2021 Principal of the Year. Strait was selected as the 2021 DoDEA Pacific Principal of the Year before being eligible to compete against those selected as the Principal of the Years for DoDEA Europe and the Americas.
As the DoDEA Principal of the Year, Strait will represent DoDEA at the national level through participation in the national association principal program in Washington, D.C. in autumn 2021 to attend the national association’s conference, as well as attend the National Principals Conference during the summer of 2022.
“It was a total team effort,” said Strait. “We’ve received a lot of support from the installation. The teachers are wonderful; the students are great; the parents are great; the staff are great – everybody. The community support has been great.”
As opposed to Kubasaki, the only other DoDEA high school on Okinawa is located on Kadena Air Base, sharing the same name as the installation.
According to Pilon, despite Strait only being with Kubasaki for less than two years, parents are now wanting their children to attend Kubasaki as opposed to Kadena because of Strait’s ability to make everything come together.
“He’s very humble,” said Pilon. “He’ll say it was the staff and the students, but it takes a good leader to make things happen no matter what anybody says.”
| Date Taken: | 05.12.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 05.18.2021 00:32 |
| Story ID: | 396558 |
| Location: | CAMP FOSTER, OKINAWA, JP |
| Hometown: | MIDLAND, MICHIGAN, US |
| Hometown: | SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 349 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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