Dr. Cathy Sork
Dorothy Fox Elementary
Camas School District
Dr. Cathy Sork, principal at Dorothy Fox Elementary School in the Camas School District, was named the 2024 Washington State Elementary Principal of the Year. Sork will also be recognized nationally by the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP), with winners from other states as one of NAESPs National Distinguished Principals.
Sork has been principal for seventeen years at Dorothy Fox, with a total of twenty-four years in educational leadership. One of the best parts of her job is she gets “to have relationships with students and help them to grow, laugh, stretch, and move toward a bright future.” Colleague and mentee of Sork’s, Kristie Wall, believes she “embodies the best of our profession, modeling student-first leadership”, and it is clear she is highly thought of by her staff as they gasped in awe as they heard she had won this award.
Next fall, Sork will be honored in Washington, D.C. as part of the
National Distinguished Principal of the Year program, sponsored by
NAESP in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Education. All state winners participate in a series of events and activities over the course of two days, culminating in a formal awards banquet. There is no national winner at the elementary level.