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WHITTEMORE — After working for 30-plus years in the Southgate school district, Michael Kell is hitting the ground running as the interim principal at Whittemore-Prescott High School.

The Whittemore-Prescott Area School district hired Kell for that position in late August, and he said he has already met with the high school teaching staff for a four-day stretch, working on professional development. He said he has found the teachers to be a dedicated group of professionals who are eager to see the school’s test scores take an upward swing.

“They have a vested interest in improving them,” Kell said, adding that he has been “very impressed” with the WPHS high school students and parents he has met so far.

Kell said he worked in the Southgate district for 10 years as a skilled trades teacher, then became a principal for a ninth-grade building in that district. Kell said that particular building had about 400 students.

Following that assignment, Kell said he became a principal at a seventh-and eighth-grade building in Southgate, which had approximately 650 students. He said he remained in that position for approximately five to six years, before serving as a high school principal in Southgate for one year.

Kell then served as an assistant superintendent for human resources in Southgate for 10 years, then returned to the high school as principal after the former principal retired, he said. After that, Kell said he retired from the Southgate district, and was rehired for a two-year span before taking last year off of work.

Before accepting the Whittemore-Prescott position, Kell ran for the state Senate as a Democrat in Michigan’s 8th District, which is located in Wayne County. According to the Michigan Secretary of State website, Kell finished second in the August Democratic primary for that seat, finishing with 4,861 votes. Hoon-Yung Hopgood won that primary with 7,143 votes.

“It was a great experience,” Kell said of running for that seat.

Kell said he and his wife, Diane, a former database administrator in the Southgate school district, purchased a home in Hale two years ago, and still maintain their home in Southgate. He said he is planning to stay in Hale most weekends during the school year.

“So far, Whittemore-Prescott and Mr. (Ted) Matuszak (W-P Area Schools Superintendent) have worked well with me and the board,” he said.

Kell said improving the district’s test scores is a key objective of his as principal.

“I think everyone wants to see standardized scores a lot higher than they are,” he said.

Kell added that the staff is currently working on developing standards that are taught in each class, curriculum mapping, and looking at the specifics of the high school curriculum. He said that during the four-day professional development session, the staff worked on what procedures to take when students come into the classroom.

“Everything we do is focused on learning,” he said.

Kell said he and Diane have three children: Tara, a middle school principal in Lincoln Park who has a cabin in Indian Lake; Michael, a journeyman electrician with Local No. 58 in Detroit; and Lea, an elementary school teacher in the Westwood school district. All three are married, Kell said, with Tara having three children in her family, Michael three children, and Lea two children.