Fore takes over as The Palmdale Aerospace Academy principal

At one time, Chris Fore was a Fallbrook High School football player and later a Fallbrook High School assistant coach. He subsequently became a head coach and athletic director at other schools, and for the past two years, he has been the assistant principal at Yucca Valley High School. As of Wednesday, July 1, Fore took over as principal of the middle school and high school portion of The Palmdale Aerospace Academy.

"Real excited about a new opportunity," Fore said.

Fore and his family live in Apple Valley, so he is now traveling west instead of east, he said. The trip from Apple Valley to Palmdale takes approximately one hour.

"It's actually about 3 miles closer than my current job," he said.

The city of Palmdale, the Palmdale Elementary School District and the aerospace community collaborated to found The Palmdale Aerospace Academy in 2012.

"It's a real neat charter school," Fore said.

The school itself educates students from kindergarten through 12th grade. The middle school and high school grades include approximately 1,700 students.

"They've got a pretty robust waiting list as well of about a 1,000 kids," Fore said.

The classes include drone planes, aerospace engineering, civil engineering and cybersecurity.

"It's a very impressive curriculum, very impressive staff there teaching these kids," Fore said.

The language classes include three different year levels of Mandarin and one year of German in addition to Spanish.

"They do have a lot of other programs for kids," Fore said.

The athletic department does not include football, but the school fields other sports. The Griffins play in the Heritage League.

In March, a friend told Fore about the opening. Fore utilized the internet to review the school.

"I was real impressed with it," he said. "I thought it would be a really fun place to go as an educator."

The deadline to apply for the principal position was March 19; Fore applied March 18. He had panel interviews by Zoom April 7 and April 13. He was interviewed in person by the superintendent April 17 and was offered the job that day.

"I think that my special education background made me an attractive candidate along with my leadership positions," Fore said.

He was a special education teacher in the Hesperia Unified School District for two years before becoming the Yucca Valley High School assistant principal in 2018. Fore has also been involved with private schools and a Victorville charter school.

"I enjoy working with kids of all kinds," he said.

Fore is not the only current principal at the school who had been a Fallbrook High School student. Josh Way graduated from Fallbrook in 1996 and has been the principal of Woodland Park Middle School in San Marcos since 2015.

"I actually went and sat with Josh as I was going through my administrative program," Fore said.

Fore coached Way when he was a Fallbrook High School student.

"It was pretty neat seeing him climb through the ranks," Fore said.

Todd Schmidt, who graduated from Fallbrook High School in 1992, is now the principal of Weaver Elementary School in Los Alamitos.

Fore graduated from Fallbrook High School in 1994 but was unable to play during his senior season because of injuries from an automobile accident. He coached the Warriors' freshman football team in 1993, and his coaching debut produced a 6-4 record. The varsity had a 1-9 record that year.

Fore was also on the coaching staff of Fallbrook's 1995 junior varsity team. He moved to Temecula in 2001 and was Linfield Christian High School's junior varsity coach in 2001 and 2002 before becoming the Lions' varsity head coach from 2003 to 2005, including the 2004 season in which Linfield Christian reached the CIF Southern Section semifinals.

He took over as the Capistrano Valley Christian High School head coach in 2006, and in 2007 Fore also became that school's athletic director. The football team won the 2010 league championship, but in 2011 the school's new superintendent brought in his own football coach and athletic director amongst other positions at the school. Fore covered high school football for http://patch.com in Orange County during 2011, and in January 2012, he signed a book contract with Coaches Choice for a book called "Leadership Lessons to Build a Championship-Caliber Football Program."

In May 2012, Fore was chosen as the athletic director of Excelsior Charter School in Victorville and also became the special teams coordinator for the Eagles' football team. That fall Excelsior won Agape League championships in both football and volleyball, and the football team won the CIF Southern Section 8-man football championship. It was Fore's first CIF championship as a player, coach or athletic director and rather than seeking to repeat the championship Fore transitioned Excelsior to 11-man football. The Eagles still posted a 7-3 regular-season record in 2013 and reached the second round of the CIF Northeast Division playoffs.

Fore received his teaching credential in 2014, and after 10 years with private schools and two years with a charter school, he joined the faculty of the Hesperia Unified School District. He was a special education teacher at Oak Hills High School for 2014-2015 and was also the special teams coordinator for the Bulldogs' 2014 football team which won the Mojave River League championship and reached the CIF Eastern Division semifinals. After one year with Oak Hills, the school district transferred Fore to Sultana High School to teach special education. He coached the Sultans' special teams in 2015 and 2016, and in 2017, he was the special teams coordinator for Victor Valley College in Victorville as well as a Sultana teacher.

As the assistant principal of Yucca Valley High School, Fore oversaw discipline, athletics and other activities and special education.

Fore will continue with his Eight Laces Consulting business, although the focus of helping applicants for coaching positions with their resumes will transition from one-on-one consultation to a video. Fore is currently the president of the California Coaches Association and will complete his term, so his final year will be concurrent with his first year as the principal of The Palmdale Aerospace Academy.

Joe Naiman can be reached by email at [email protected].