VISTA -- Students at Breeze Hill Elementary School returned last week from winter break to a new year and a new principal.

Susan Fitzpatrick, whom the district hired six months ago as principal on special assignment, took over last week for retiring Breeze Hill Principal Cher Lecours.

Fitzpatrick has been an educator for 14 years and joined the Vista Unified School District after serving as an assistant principal in Riverside.

Education is a lifelong passion for her, she said.

"I can't remember a time when I didn't think I was going to be a teacher," she said. "As a child, I would play teacher and force my little brother to be my student."

In addition to being a natural-born educator, Fitzpatrick said she also strives to be a lifelong learner. She recently finished a doctorate program at the University of La Verne.

Fitzpatrick started teaching more than 20 years ago in Colorado before leaving education for a stint in business. Her love of teaching pulled her back into education 12 years ago as a teacher in Riverside.

She said she wanted to work in Vista Unified largely because of new Superintendent Joyce Bales and her unyielding mission to focus on reading.

When she was hired in July as principal on special assignment, she spent her first several months helping to implement the district's new reading intervention program, known as Lindamood-Bell.

"She's been a very important part of our district already," Bales said. "She is a rising star for us."

Bales said she thinks the transition between principals will be smooth, since they had a chance to work together before Lecours retired.

"I think she (Fitzpatrick) is going to have a head start because not only has she worked throughout the district, but she has spent the past month working with (Lecours)," Bales said.

Fitzpatrick said that although some of her techniques may be different from those of previous principals, the goal is always the same: student achievement.

Breeze Hill has received the California Distinguished School Award -- the highest honor the state gives public schools -- twice, once in 2000 and again in 2004. It is one of only a handful of Vista Unified campuses that have won the award in the last decade.

With 750 students, the school has the largest enrollment of any elementary school in the district.

Still, Fitzpatrick said she hopes to maintain the family feel for which the school has become known. She said she hopes to do that by working closely and openly with parents, teachers and students.

So far, she said, her new students have embraced her with open arms.

"I can't go out there without hugs," she said. "They're always ready for someone new on their team."

Now that she has begun her new job, Fitzpatrick said she expects to stay a while.

"I feel like I've landed," she said. "I'm happy right where I am. It's a dream come true for me."

Contact staff writer Stacy Brandt at (760) 631-6622 or sbrandt@nctimes.com. Comment at nctimes.com.