Meet the Deputy, Associate, and Assistant Superintendents
Kirk Black, Ed.D.
Deputy Superintendent, Human Resources and Student Services
Kirk Black, Ed.D. has been in education for 25 years. His career has included assignments at many levels of education. He began his career as a middle school teacher at Hill Middle School in the Novato Unified School District, before transitioning to high school at San Francisco’s Galileo Academy of Science and Technology. There, he worked for eight years as a science and P.E. teacher, department chair, multi-sport coach, and teacher union area representative. Following his time at Galileo, he served as Dean of the Freshmen Focus Program at Berkeley High School and then as Assistant Principal of San Marin High School back in Novato Unified.
Kirk arrived at SMUHSD in 2001 when he was hired as an Assistant Principal of Aragon High School. The following year, he became the Principal of Aragon. After six years, Kirk became the Associate Superintendent of Human Resources and Administrative Services and in 2015 was promoted to Deputy Superintendent. Kirk has earned a Doctorate of Education degree and a Juris Doctorate degree.
Yancy Hawkins, CPA
Associate Superintendent Chief Business Officer
Julia Kempkey, Ed.D.
Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction
Julia Kempkey, Ed. D. was born and raised in Wisconsin. Directly after college, she moved out west and began her teaching career in Lake Tahoe at Incline Middle School. After a few years, she accepted a job at New Technology High School in Napa as a Political Studies teacher. During her time at New Tech, she served as a leader teacher and project-based learning coach for her staff.
Julia began her administrative career in 2010 when she accepted a job as a school site administrator in Novato Unified School District. During her eight years in NUSD, she served at both high schools, Novato High School and San Marin High School before moving to the district office as the Director of Instructional Technology. From there, she moved into the Instruction department where she served as the Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Innovation for the last five years. Julia joined SMUHSD as Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction in July 2018.
Julia received her undergraduate degree from University of Wisconsin at Madison and her Doctorate of Education degree from UC Berkeley with a focus on technology-infused instruction. She and her family live in San Mateo.