Ken Murray is new Ephrata Middle School principal

EPHRATA - There wasn't any hesitation when Ken Murray heard they were looking for a new principal at Ephrata Middle School.

"I couldn't apply fast enough," he said. Murray, a 1995 Ephrata graduate and former teacher and coach in the district, starts his first year as EMS principal Thursday.

He replaces Jill Palmquist, who retired at the end of the 2012-13 school year. Palmquist also was an Ephrata graduate.

Murray said he always knew he wanted to be in education somehow. "I always enjoyed the school setting," he said. He attended Central Washington University, and while he was in college he was hired to coach the Ephrata High School soccer team.

"That brought me back (to Ephrata) and I was very happy to be here," he said. He coached soccer and was an assistant football coach at Ephrata while going to school, he said, did his student teaching in the district and worked as a substitute teacher. He was hired as a math teacher at Ephrata High School.

The next step was a master's degree, he said, and Murray chose teacher training (called professional development) as his subject. That got him interested in administration; he enrolled in the program offered by Heritage College, he said.

He transferred to Ephrata Middle School, he said, to teach math and complete his principal internship. At the end of the school year, "I decided to take that leap." His first administrative job was in Grandview as an assistant principal and athletic director.

The next year he was contacted by administrators at Southridge High School in Kennewick. They needed an assistant principal and athletic director, and after his first year at Southridge they added oversight of ASB to his job. He worked at Southridge five years, he said.

A principal's job was one of his career goals, and "it's been a dream to be a building principal in my hometown."

Murray and his wife Brenda have four children, and he wanted them to know a town like Ephrata. "There's an element of unity in a small town, in a small school, that a big school can't replicate," he said.

"The community of Ephrata served me very, very well. It's got a real family-oriented environment. I couldn't ask for a better place for my kids to be," Murray said.

Middle school is considered to be a challenging time for kids, and for their teachers as a result. But if teachers and administrators have are committed to making a difference, "the middle school is the perfect place to be," he said.

Middle school kids are starting to be independent, learn more about themselves and where they want their life to go, he said. "As an administrator, it's a blessing to be involved in that process with them."

The state is working on instituting a new system of evaluating teachers and administrators, and a new assessment teat. "It's a challenge," he said. The key is teamwork; when all participants have the goal of helping kids be successful, their efforts will be successful, he said.