The first day on the job as principal of Eatonville Middle School, Andy McGrath saw a group of kids running down the hall. When he had been the principal Eatonville High, such a scene usually meant a fight was brewing.

But, when he investigated further, he discovered they were simply playing a friendly game of tag.

“It was interesting,” he said. “It’s a different thing. You just have to get used to it.”

With a decade of principal experience, McGrath will have less of a transition as the new principal of Cedar River Middle School in Maple Valley.

Originally from Kent, McGrath graduated from Kentridge High in 1975. He earned a teaching degree from Central Washington University and a master’s in school administration at Western Washington University.

Initially, teaching was not his first choice of a career. He first earned an economics degree, but the job market did not seem to offer him any satisfying employment. Some of his friends were teachers and helped expose him to the profession. Since it would only take another year for him to earn a teaching degree, McGrath decided to go for it.

“I’ve never really looked back,” he said.

After earning his master’s, he got a full time job teaching high school math at Lindbergh High in Renton 1983, where he stayed until 1995. He was then offered the assistant principal position at Eatonville High, which he accepted. In 1997 he was offered the principal position at Eatonville Middle school.

McGrath stated the transition from teacher to principal brought with it new difficulties. Rather than work in a controlled classroom environment and have his schedule dictated by the school bell, McGrath said his days were, and continue to be, unpredictable.

“It takes a lot of energy,” he said. “But the rewards are just so great. There’s not a feeling like it. What I thrive on is the interaction with people, finding solutions where both sides win. You really have to think.”

Yet, running a middle school full of young adolescents brings different challenges than high school teenagers. McGrath explained middle school students have a reputation as hard to handle, though he prefers to describe them as very loyal.

“When you tell people you work in a middle school, they wonder how you do it,” he said.

One aspect of a middle school he enjoyed is the development, both in terms of physical and emotional maturity, the students go through.

“The amount of growth in those three years is amazing,” he said. “They go from kids to young adults.”

In 2005, McGrath found an opportunity to take over as the principal of Glacier Middle School in Buckley. It was an easy decision for McGrath. It was close to Enumclaw, where McGrath has lived for 20 years, compared to Eatonville, which is 37 miles away. The new job would allow him to spend more time with his wife, a first grade teacher at Byron Kibler Elementary, in addition to his son and daughter.

“My kids were getting to the age where I was missing things because I was so far away,” he said.

Earlier this year when he learned the principal position had opened up at Cedar River Middle School he decided he was interested in the job.

Working for the Tahoma School District had been something he thought he may want to pursue.

“It’s always been one of those where you think, ‘someday I want to be a part of that,’” he said.

As time passed, he found himself unable to take his mind off of it and finally decided to submit his resume. After being interviewed, he was offered the job in June.

“It was a good chance to take on a new challenge,” he said. “Tahoma has always been on the cutting edge.”

Because he was hired after the school year was over, he has yet to acquaint himself with the majority of the faculty, staff or the students themselves, which he said he plans to do as soon as school starts next month.

“The main job for me is to get to know the staff and the kids and the parents, and to build trust,” he said. “People have to trust you as a person, that’ll you be honest and open. It all starts with the relationships.”

McGrath explained how the educational environment has drastically changed since he was a math teacher. Tests such as the Measurements of Student Progress (MSP) and the High School Proficiency Exam (HSPE) must be passed in order to graduate from high school. Thus, tests middle school students take are no longer used to gather statistics, but to help schools identify where and which students are falling behind and how they can best help them.

While one of McGrath’s aims is to have his students prepared to pass those tests when they reach high school, he sees the entire K-12 education system as interlinked.

“All successes and failures are K-12,” he said. “When they succeed, we can take pride. When they struggle, we all share responsibility for that.”

At the same time, he sees Cedar River Middle School’s purpose as one small link in the chain.

“The ultimate goal is to make them successful at the junior high,” he said.

The key to success, McGrath said, is to have high expectations and the willingness to stick to them.

“You have to believe all kids can learn at high levels,” he said.