Richland School District hires new administrators for 2016-17 school year

Richland School District has brought on four new administrators. Principal Andre Hargunani, assistant principal Maren Benedict, technology coordinator John Kelly and AVID coordinator Ruby Armijo will start their new positions this fall for the 2016-17 school year.

Hargunani has been hired to be the new principal at West Richland’s fourth middle school, which is expected to open in 2017 at Keene Road and Belmont Boulevard. He’ll be based at Enterprise Middle School in West Richland during the planning phase of the new middle school until he moves to his permanent position at the new school around spring break of 2017. He holds a master’s degree in principal leadership from University of California, Los Angeles.

Benedict will be the assistant principal position at Hanford High School. She currently works as a science teacher at Enterprise High School. She has an master’s in curriculum and instruction from Seattle Pacific University, and is enrolled in in the educational leadership doctoral program at Washington State University.

Kelly will be the district’s instructional technology coordinator. He has been an Educational Service District 123 employee since 2007. He has a bachelor’s in social science from Eastern Washington University and is enrolled in the educational leadership master’s program at WSU Tri-Cities.

Armijo will assume the AVID coordinator position for the Richland School District. She has experience in teaching, district-level positions and AVID leadership. AVID is a college readiness system designed to increase school-wide learning and performance. She has a bachelor’s in elementary education and an master’s in English as Second Language from Heritage University.

This story was originally published March 13, 2016 at 11:17 PM with the headline "Richland School District hires new administrators for 2016-17 school year."