Estancia principal takes new job at district

After five years at Estancia High School, Principal Kirk Bauermeister is taking a new position at the Newport-Mesa Unified School District administrative offices.

His new role as executive director of secondary education begins July 1. The school board affirmed the change earlier this month.

Bauermeister said the position is new for Newport-Mesa and entails working alongside other top district officials for the district’s high schools and middle schools, working to achieve school board directives and meeting mandates from state and federal governments.

Bauermeister, 55, has been with the district for 17 years. The Costa Mesa resident started as a history teacher and athletic director before becoming assistant principal at Costa Mesa High School.

He has also served as principal of TeWinkle Middle School, Costa Mesa Middle School and a co-principal at Mesa. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Cal State Long Beach and a doctorate in organizational leadership from the University of La Verne.

At Estancia, Bauermeister said, he tried to engage the community, showing off everything the Westside Costa Mesa campus has to offer.

Estancia had been known as the city’s “best-kept secret,” he said. As principal, though, he wanted to share the secret, thus shifting the community’s perception of Estancia and encouraging families to send their kids there instead of other Newport-Mesa campuses or to Huntington Beach schools.

Bauermeister said he’ll miss being among Estancia students, but in his new role, he’ll still be around campus from time to time.

“That was the biggest hurdle to jump over to move to the district office,” he said. “I really enjoy working with the kids.”

Bauermeister made headlines in 2013 for his quick actions in wrestling down a suspected gunman on campus with help from a campus security guard who alerted the school and an assistant principal who helped Bauermeister disarm and contain the disgruntled parent. It was later discovered the man was carrying a BB gun designed to look like a real weapon.

In a commendation following the February 2013 incident, a school board report stated: “During this difficult and dangerous situation, due to the direct actions of these three staff members, the staff and students at Estancia High School remained safe and calm.”

Bauermeister has also been active in Costa Mesa government. He helped co-facilitate City Hall’s Charter Committee and was recently chosen to serve on the Senior Commission, which oversees the senior center on West 19th Street.

Bauermeister’s roots in Costa Mesa and the district run deep. He is a Costa Mesa native and graduate of Mesa, where he excelled in baseball and football. Earlier this year, he was inducted into the Costa Mesa Baseball of Hall of Fame, lauded for his years as a player and coach.

Both his parents worked at Newport Harbor High School.

Bauermeister also ran a sportswear shop, Treads and Threads, on East 17th Street, before becoming an educator.