Golden Grove Elementary School in The Acreage will start the year with a new principal in charge. Adam Miller has arrived to replace Kathryn Koerner, who is now principal at Independence Middle School in Jupiter.
Originally from Rockland County, N.Y., Miller came south to study at Florida Atlantic University, where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees and met his wife, Tsiri, also an educator and originally from Miami. They and their two daughters have lived in Royal Palm Beach for the past 10 years.
Miller has been at Golden Grove for about a month. He started his education career at J.C. Mitchell Elementary School in Boca Raton in January 2001, where he taught fifth grade for five years.
“I then left teaching to become an administrator,” said Miller, who is 35.
He held several positions as an administrator, including school improvement specialist and assistant principal at Berkshire Elementary School in West Palm Beach, then on the school district’s development team restructuring struggling schools. He also worked with a capacity development team and was principal at Pioneer Park Elementary School in Belle Glade for the past three years before being assigned to Golden Grove.
“This is a lot closer to home for me,” he said. “It feels wonderful to be at Golden Grove,” he said. “The staff is so knowledgeable and warm. It’s a great staff here, and I met some of the parents, who have been really nice. I’m looking forward to meeting the students.”
School starts Monday, Aug. 19.
Miller came to FAU to major in business but changed his direction. “I had a change of heart and wanted to do something more than make a lot of money, and education seemed right,” he said. “When I was younger, in middle school and high school in New York, I used to teach young kids how to play chess at the local library. I remembered how I enjoyed that.”
One of the big challenges at Golden Grove, as well as at all other schools in the state, is adoption of the new Common Core curriculum.
“We have already been implementing the Common Core for kindergarten and first grade, and we will begin implementation of Common Core in the second grade this coming year, as well as preparing for full implementation the following year,” Miller said.
ABOVE: Adam Miller
