The Sequim School District recently welcomed Paul Wieneke to the position of Executive Director of Human Resources.

Wieneke replaces Karen Sande, who retired in early November.

“Karen (Sande) served the district for 28 years and we wish her all the best in her retirement,” Sequim schools superintendent Gary Neal said.

“That being said, we are now three months into the school year and we are delighted to have someone come along at this time who is so capable and ready to step in and do what I’m sure will be a fantastic job.”

Wieneke brings to the position over 30 years of experience as a certificated educator. Starting out as a para-professional, Wieneke has held positions as an elementary teacher, principal and superintendent intern, all in Alaska.

He and his wife Beth spent 25 years in Alaska.

Wieneke then went to work as principal of Blix Elementary in the Tacoma Public Schools for five years. Wieneke, who is fluent in Spanish, established Blix Elementary as a Spanish immersion school, where students learn in both English and Spanish.

Most recently, Wieneke spent the past two years as an Indistar steward for the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. Indistar is an online school improvement planning tool for school teams to inform, coach, sustain, track and report improvement activities as they develop their Improvement Plan or “Action Plan.”

“I’m a very service-oriented person and I believe in building on people’s strengths,” Wieneke said. “I subscribe to the growth mindset.”

“As an Indistar steward for the state, I served 120 school districts and over 500 schools throughout Washington,” he said. “My role was to help them craft their school or district improvement plans in order to understand the value of aligned action planning with district and school initiatives.”

Wieneke became familiar with Sequim through his work as Indistar steward at Sequim Middle School, where he worked with principal Vince Riccobene and his team.

Wieneke is a graduate of the University of California–Santa Barbara. He received a master’s degree and earned an administrator’s endorsement from the University of Alaska–Anchorage.

He is an avid cyclist and musician.

“I’m looking forward to relocating to Sequim and staying here a long time,” Wieneke said. “I always knew this was a great place for families and for students.”