No more 'interim' for Hampton Academy principal: Kenneth Hawkins to lead middle school

HAMPTON — Hampton Academy’s new Principal Kenneth Hawkins is delighted to be back working on the New Hampshire Seacoast where he started his teaching career decades ago.

“Hampton is just a wonderful town,” said 49-year-old Hawkins. “Hampton Academy is a great school, with wonderful teachers and students and a very supportive administration and school committee.”

Hawkins has served as the school’s interim principal since February, taking over for Dave O’Connor who took a leave of absence.

Initially, O’Connor’s leave was to be temporary, SAU 90 Superintendent Lois Costa said, but at the end of the school year, the 25-year veteran of the Hampton School District decided to retire.

“Dave’s doing well,” Costa said. “He’s enjoying his retirement and his love of the sea.”

Presented with O’Connor’s vacancy, Costa said there was no need to scramble. She and the board were pleased with Hawkins’ performance, and he was offered a contract as the school’s permanent principal.

“He’s just a fantastic addition and we’re fortunate to have him continue on as principal at Hampton Academy,” she said.

Hawkins familiar face on the Seacoast

Hawkins is “New Hampshire born and bred,” he said, the son of Joyce and the late Kenneth Hawkins, growing up in Merrimack and Bedford. He graduated from Keene State College with a bachelor’s degree in biology and secondary education, getting his first job teaching science to middle schoolers in Portsmouth.

“My mother was a third-grade teacher,” he said. “I talk to her often.”

Hawkins continued his education at Lesley College in Cambridge, Massachusetts, receiving his master’s degree in technology and education, then earned his administrator’s certificates from the University of Southern Maine.

He went on to his first assistant principal’s appointment at York Middle School, where he remained until 2013. He then assumed the position of principal at Tamworth’s K.A. Brett Middle School.

“That’s a great school with wonderful people,” he said. “I was there for about five years.”

Taking a break to travel the world

In 2018, Hawkins left Tamworth to fulfill a goal he and his wife Michelle had for their family. They took their three children, Jack, Owen and Kate, out of their formal classrooms and home-schooled them for a year to travel.

“We went everywhere,” he said.

Crossing the United States going from “national park to national park,” the family returned to New Hampshire before heading off internationally.

“We traveled to Europe, Southeast Asia, New Zealand, Australia, Japan and Hawaii,” he said. “It was a wonderful year.”

Back to school

Hawkins said after the year of travel was over, he and his family settled back in Kittery.

He served as a middle school principal in Saco, Maine until the end of 2021.

When the Hampton Academy job came open, he jumped at the opportunity.

According to Costa, at first she scrambled to accommodate O’Connor’s absence.

“I was principal at Hampton Academy from 8 (a.m.) to 3 (p.m.) then I’d come back here and be the superintendent of SAU 90,” Costa said. “I knew that couldn’t continue forever.”

Then a consultant who knew Costa’s situation and Hawkins’ talents recommended him for the position of interim principal at Hampton Academy.

“I talked to him on Friday; interviewed him on Monday,” Costa said. “I called his references and they were all glowing.”

Hawkins’ background had everything the School Board was looking for, she said, he’d been an administrator in New Hampshire and taught middle school in Portsmouth.

“He had the heart for the work and the desire to be in Hampton,” she said.

Ready for the new school year

Enthusiastic about the community and school environment, Hawkins said he’s excited for the new year to begin. He said it will be a return to a normal learning environment without the interruptions the coronavirus pandemic brought to education.

“We’re looking forward to being able to regroup kids to improve socialization instead of having to keep them in cohorts,” Hawkins said. “Socialization is how kids thrive at this age. They’re building those interactive skills at this level and the pandemic interrupted that, as well as the learning loss.”

This year the Academy is introducing an advisory period each day, a time that isn’t academic, Hawkins said, but one when eight or nine students can meet with an adult.

“It’s not a counseling session, but having an adult help students navigate what they’re doing during the (school) day,” Hawkins said.

Costa is also looking forward to the new school year.

“I’m excited to bring back normalcy,” she said. “To bring back our field trips and environmental camps and sports along with academics.”

Fortunately, she said, SAU 90 is at full staff, in part thanks to new contracts approved by voters last year for both the school district’s teachers and paraprofessionals.

The only missing link this year, Costa said, is in the after-school student program usually offered at the Marston School through the district’s partnership with the Exeter Area YMCA. Because of the inability of the YMCA to find employees for the program, she said, that isn’t available.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Kenneth Hawkins named new principal at Hampton Academy in Hampton NH