Spring Branch ISD Principals of the Year Announced

Spring Branch ISD’s 2015 Elementary and Secondary Principals of the Year were named by district peers recently. They are Randolph Adami, the Northbrook High School principal, and Robye Snyder, the campus leader at Hunters Creek Elementary School.

The two SBISD principals will be honored June 8 at the St. Regis Hotel during the annual Principal Recognition Ceremony hosted by the Region 4 Education Service Center.

Principals Adami and Snyder earned top honors in the district’s 10^th annual school leadership recognition event, which is based on voting by principals. Honorees are nominated by peers and must demonstrate the following qualities:

• Concern for all staff and students and the ability to inspire both of these groups
• Ability and willingness to work cooperatively with all staff and administrators
• Proven drive to initiate and implement effective strategies supporting continuous improvement in student performance
• Ability to work with diverse community groups and all district stakeholders
• Proven desire for continuous personal and professional growth
• Ability and willingness to make meaningful contributions to education

Northbrook High Principal Randolph Adami

A two-time SBISD Principal of the Year, Randolph Adami has led Northbrook High School since 2004. He was named a district Principal of the Year in 2009, too. He has served in SBISD for 27 years, all but three years as a principal or as assistant principal.

A native of Freer, Texas, a ranching and oil producing small town near Laredo, Adami earned his bachelor of science degree in curriculum and instruction from Texas A&M University in 1988. “I knew from the very start that I wanted to be a teacher,” he says.

After college, he joined the Spring Woods Middle School staff as a history and English teacher, a position he held for three years. He then served four years at Northbrook Middle School as an assistant principal.

From 1995 through 2000, Adami was an assistant principal at Spring Woods High School. At Spring Oaks Middle School in May 2000, he was named principal, and in 2004, he joined Northbrook High as its new principal.

While working in SBISD, Adami earned his master’s degree in education from the University of Houston in 1991. In addition, he completed the Harvard University Principals’ Institute as well as the Rice Education Entrepreneur Program (REEP) summer session program.

At Spring Oaks Middle, his campus was recognized in 2003 and 2004with a Texas Business and Educators Coalition (TBEC) Award for notable student academic results, a high accomplishment.

Principal Adami has worked to make Northbrook High School a student-focused organization that provides a structured learning environment and post-secondary opportunities for all students who attend the school.

“Being given a set of keys to Northbrook High, one of the 250 biggest high schools in the state was a huge responsibility, and that’s not a responsibility I take lightly. I thought it was awesome when I was hired as a teacher in Spring Branch, and to this day the favorite part of my job on a repeat basis is graduation, shaking hands as the students walk across the stage,” Principal Adami says.

He doesn’t take a repeat recognition as Principal of the Year lightly, either. “I was very shocked to be named,” he says. “Coming from other principals, I’m humbled and honored by their thinking of me, especially when you think of all the great and incredible work that they do.”

Principal Adami and his wife, Katie, who works in the computer industry, are the proud parents of three children, including Justin, a recent graduate of Texas A&M University; Ryan, who also attends A&M; and Cara, who is an eighth-grader. The couple has been married 26 years.

When not working at Northbrook High, Randolph likes to spend part of his time as a part-time rancher in South Texas.

 

Hunters Creek Elementary Principal Robye Snyder

Principal Robye Snyder knows Spring Branch well, having attended Hollibrook Elementary, Spring Branch Junior High and Memorial High. She plans to attend Memorial High’s 40^th reunion this summer.

A graduate of Texas A&M University, she began her journey in Texas education with a Bachelor of Science degree in education. After graduation, she taught third grade for four years in Bryan ISD.

In Katy ISD, she taught first grade for four years at Mayde Creek Elementary, and then joined Spring Branch ISD, where she has either taught or served in leadership at four campuses – Ridgecrest, Cedar Brook, Meadow Wood and Hunters Creek.

Principal Snyder’s deep teaching and leadership resume includes these highlights: Reading Specialist, 5 years; Third-Grade English as a Second Language (ESL), 1 year; Reading Recovery/Kindergarten or Literacy Support, 6 years; Kindergarten, ½ year; Administrative Intern, 1 year; Assistant Principal, 6.5 years; and Principal, 7 years.

Most recently, she has served as principal at Hunters Creek and Meadow Wood elementary schools.

Her additional education includes a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction and reading from Texas A&M University; all coursework for ESL certification at Houston Baptist University; a Reading Recovery certification from the University of Houston at Clear Lake; Principal certification through the UH’s Spring Branch Corporate University; and both selection for and graduation from Rice University Educational Entrepreneurship Program, or REEP.

In addition to the Principal Certification, she holds life provisional certifications in the following areas: Elementary General and Reading; Kindergarten; Supervisor; and Reading Specialist.

Principal Snyder is a member of several professional groups: the Texas Council of Women School Executives; Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association; and REEP-related Rice Educational Entrepreneurship Alumni Group. For several years, she was an independent national literacy consultant, too.

Recent election by her peers as a district Principal of the Year marks another high point in her career.

“I was surprised and a bit overwhelmed when it was announced at the [recent] Elementary Principal’s meeting that I was the Principal of the Year.  I am blessed to have a career in SBISD where I’m surrounded by some of the best educational leaders in the business,” she says.

“I’ve had my horizon broadened widely by participation in the REEP program and this past February participating in the Raise Your Hand Texas Campus to Congress Conference.  I’ve met and worked with school leaders from around the state,” she adds.

Principal Snyder says that SBISD school leaders are the best in the state, and she means what she says with great candor and fidelity. “We all learn from each other, grow through struggles together, and support each other at every turn of the way. I am proud and honored to represent all the wonderful principals in SBISD,” she says.

Principal Snyder is the proud parent of one adult son, Brandon, a graduate of the University of Denver, and one precious puppy, Twinkie. She travels often to see Brandon, who has made his home and career in the mountains of Crested Butte, Colo., where she is learning to fly fish and loves to enjoy the snow.