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Mountain View Whisman School District officials have selected four new principals in a major leadership shuffle for the upcoming school year, drawing on educators both in-house staff and from the East Coast.
In March, school board members voted unanimously to “release” and reassign the principals at Graham Middle School and Theuerkauf, Mistral and Landels elementary schools following a closed-session performance review. District officials have been tight-lipped on the reasons for the major administrative changes, citing personnel issues that they cannot disclose to the public.
Heidi Galassi, assistant principal at Graham, was immediately selected to be the new principal of Landels Elementary, and last month the school board approved three new hires for the remaining vacancies.
Michael Hermosillo, a director at the Alameda County Office of Education overseeing the county’s juvenile court schools, has been selected to be the new principal at Graham. Swati Dagar, the principal of the tech- and engineering-centric Paradise Valley Engineering Academy in Morgan Hill, was selected to lead Theuerkauf. Tabitha Miller, a dual immersion teacher and administrator from North Carolina, was tapped to lead Mistral Elementary. All four principals begin their new roles effective July 1.
Galassi did not respond to requests for an interview, and Hermosillo was not available for an interview prior to the Voice’s press deadline.
Swati Dagar
In December 2015, just days before the winter break, the Morgan Hill Unified school board voted to transform Paradise Valley Elementary School into an engineering and STEM-focused academy. And it was up to the school’s principal, Swati Dagar, to lead the school community through the school’s complete redesign.
Dagar, now leading the newly named Paradise Valley Engineering Academy, recalled how she and the community rallied together to revamp the school, focusing on technology, project-based learning and better positioning the school for the state’s new science standards, which replace direct instruction with hands-on learning. STEM has turned into an attractive buzzword, she said, but her goal was to go above and beyond other schools and capture the spirit of Silicon Valley at Paradise Valley.
Classes at every grade level now revolve around a handful of major projects each year, students are encouraged to take an engineer’s approach to problem-solving, and the school has since adopted after-school coding classes and robotics clubs, Dagar said.
“We redid the vision for the school to focus on engineering, project-based learning, inquiry-based learning and kids doing projects to learn,” she said. “This is our second year, and so far it has been an incredibly successful redesign.”
Dagar said she believes her experience transforming her current school into a STEM-centric campus — a process she believes got students more engaged in school and rallied parents behind a common cause — will help her add to and enhance the education programs at Theuerkauf Elementary.
Dagar said she comes from a family of educators and feels comfortable in her role as a teacher and educator, but she didn’t jump into the career right away. She received her business degree in India before eventually deciding to switch professions, and taught in multiple California school districts including a rural district in Greenfield. She later taught at James McEntee Academy in San Jose, where she said the school followed a science and technology focus similar to that of Paradise Valley.
“I enjoy being the educator that I am, and I will always be a teacher at heart,” she said.
Dagar said she is excited about her new role at Theuerkauf, and that she can’t wait to start working with the school’s community and students.
Tabitha Miller
During her 13-year career in education, Tabitha Miller said she has grown into a passionate advocate for bilingual education. Benefiting from an immersion program herself, and later teaching classes in Spanish and working at a dual-immersion school in North Carolina, Miller said dual-language programs are a powerful tool for creating bilingual, biliterate citizens in a globalized 21st century world.
She has certainly walked the walk. Four years ago she joined the Collinswood Language Academy in Charlotte where she worked as a kindergarten immersion teacher, taught science in Spanish in kindergarten through fifth grades, and sixth-grade science in English. The only grades she hasn’t taught during her career, she said, are seventh and eighth grade.
“Knowing two languages stretches the brain and only enhances what we are able to do, understand and communicate,” Miller said. “It is a rich experience that has cognitive and social benefits that are impossible to ignore.”
Miller said she comes from a humble background, describing her upbringing in the small city of Danville, Virginia, where most of her family worked in a local cotton mill. After attending Virginia Tech, she said she studied Spanish linguistics as well as Spanish and Latin American literature at Florida State University with a goal of becoming a teacher. She eventually landed a teaching job in Charlotte.
Miller said she could have fallen through the cracks in her hometown, but support from educators, family and community members helped launch her into a successful career. That has shaped her outlook on education, and she said her goal is to go the “extra mile” to make sure kids from all backgrounds are afforded the same opportunities.
“My passion is in providing a rich, individualized educational experience for every child,” she said. “To give every child the opportunities he or she needs to have a full, happy, successful life.”
From the outset, she said the district and the Mistral community — families and staff alike — have been incredibly welcoming, and that she is excited to explore Mountain View and the “amazing” depth of culture in the area.
“I’m looking forward to working closely with the community in order to continue building upon Mistral’s already strong dual-immersion program,” she said.
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A guest finishes breakfast at Trinity United Methodist Church, on August 12, 2017. The same space became a cold weather homeless shelter for women and families over the winter. It closed April 15. Photo by Ana Sofia Amieva-Wang -
LimeBike’s Bay Area Operations Manager Megan Colford demonstrates how to scan a QR code to unlock a bike at its headquarters in San Mateo on Oct. 3, 2017. LimeBike is one of two companies that launched a pilot bike share program in Mountain View on May 8, 2018. Photo by Michelle Le
Those who are not Cleave are still fuming because it was handled so badly, with still no reason given other than vague statements.
The district has crafted and set forth on a great plan to make sure the majority of school families are angry and frustrated with their actions and dis-trustful of their reasons/methods.
Truth.
Cleave is the biggest MVWSD Stan around. Anyone else find it strange and off-putting?
Shockingly, what is not mentioned here is that Tabitha Miller comes from Supe Rudolph’s old district all the way back in North Carolina. I’m sure the board wants to stay tight-lipped about that fun fact as well.
It’s not hard to figure out what’s going on here; it’s called corruption. Rudolph appears to be engaged in patronage and job relocation services from his old district. We already have his old boss getting hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting contracts. The Board laps it all up.
But I’m more concerned with a principal that comes on board knowing the selection process was rigged and has no problem playing the game. What does that say about her ethics? She makes no mention in her story above how she is obviously connected to Rudolph from previous employment. She has zero experience running a school. Not a good way to start building trust.
And does anyone find it ironic that Michael Hermosillo’s crowning experience was as a director at the Alameda County Office of Education overseeing the county’s juvenile court schools and has now been selected to be the new principal at Graham. The rest of his experience is scant. Is this really the skill set our school communities are looking for?
And by the way, Supe Rudolph appears to be sending a clear message with his pick for the Graham principal to the troublemaker Graham parents who are constantly questioning his decisions. Think TTO Math and the removal of a very popular, dedicated and effective principal. The message is you deserve a new principal with Juvenile Hall experience.
The clique that runs things in the district really is a strange, arrogant bunch. Do you actually reread any of your posts here? Instead of just using “if you were involved you’d understand” to deflect all criticism, why not explain to the poor, uninformed rubes?
>We have some of the best administrators, schools and teachers available anywhere in the country in my opinion.
No Cleave, we HAD some of the best administrators. Sadly, two of the very best have been released. It is not at all clear that the principals replacing them are of the same caliber.
Do we want to look into confidential personnel files? No. But we would like to understand what changes are required at Graham and Landels to justify just drastic action. (Because we are “customers” and great fans of these schools.)
And even if change was required, kicking these award-winning administrators to the curb instead of allowing them to move on gracefully does not represent the values of our community.
I understand these changes were probably not implemented in the best way and that’s unfortunate. But I have to say I am excited about the new principal at Theuerkauf. I have been asking the district to take Theuerkauf into a more project-based, STEM-focused school for YEARS as a way to bring that neighborhood school back to life and help it compete fairly for neighborhood kids against Stevenson. I am very excited to finally see things heading in that direction! This will be a positive change for everyone in our neighborhood and will benefit many kids.
My kids are currently in private school (project-based school with lots of STEM) but something like this (assuming actual execution, not just talk) would definitely have made us strongly consider our neighborhood school. Way to go MVWSD!
I’m extremely proud of our district’s ability to continue to attract fantastic talent at all levels of our educational system despite the difficult of living and working in this area because of cost of living. I’m excited to meet these educators and see the work they will do at our schools. Thank you MVWSD, the parents and teachers who worked on these task forces and thanks to these educators who chose to join us!
@Meanwhile,
In case you missed it, personnel issues are NOT discussed publicly. In fact, these decisions are made in closed sessions. This is for the protection of the teachers and administrators. The District cannot comment on why it does what it does with respect to personnel decisions. I’m fairly certain you know this since it’s kind of a standard policy with any organization or company. Even cops personnel records are not made public after they have complaints against them. So, it’s puzzling to me that everyone somehow thinks that the District should publish all the ins and outs of personnel decisions. It’s actually not puzzling. It’s asinine. The most ridiculous complaint I’ve heard from disgruntled parents yet. Further, each of these principals were given months of notice so that they could find their next opportunity, but also so that they could prepare their individual school communities for a new administration. Each of them had an opportunity to discuss their personnel records with the public at their discretion. They chose not to do so. If they’re unwilling to chat about it with you, I’m unsure why you believe the District should do so.
The reason you “distrust the district” and the reason you’re so angry is that you’re just not involve or you’re simply not paying attention. So, maybe what needs to change is you, your actions, your involvement. Because for those of us that are paying attention and those of us who are involved, we get it. That doesn’t mean we agree with everything that’s done or decided. It does mean we, at least, understand why these decisions are made.
@ Corruption
Once again, a comment from someone who seems to have absolutely no idea how the district hires folks. I can’t even waste any time explaining it to you. Perhaps you should go ask the question….Pro Tip….Parents actually participate in the process from the beginning. SMH
@ Weird
Yes, I am one of the biggest MVWSD fans. I’m a fan because I’m also a customer. I’ve got a kid in school here. I’m a fan because I moved here from a school district which required hiring an attorney to get a meeting with the school superintendent. We have some of the best administrators, schools and teachers available anywhere in the country in my opinion. And if you want to be involved in the process, you can be in any number of ways from the school site level, to the district level, if you choose. And if you were involved at any of these levels, much of the how’s and why’s would be so much more apparent to you.
There is a persistent misconception among many parents and former parents at Graham, that the last administrator there was “excellent”. She was great at only half of her job – social-emotional learning. She utterly failed at the other half of her job – ACADEMICS. If you were a wealthy white family at GMS over the term of the outgoing site administrator (I was), your kids got significantly improved ACADEMIC OUTCOMES.
If you were Hispanic, much, much less! (I know, the administrator “showed up” at ELAC meetings!)
From the 2008-10 period, the the WHITE – HISPANIC academic achievement GAP increased! From 48% in ELA to 52% in 2016-17. The WHITE – HISPANIC academic achievement GAP increased in MATH from 48% to 57%. Real numbers, real data, real lifetime implications for those Hispanic kids. Increasingly left behind!
So, for an academic GAP increase larger than the Hispanic achievement improvement – the site administrator should be retained? Hog wash in my book. There were 4 weeks of reduced academic instruction, at GMS under the Thompson administration (Essential Elements + out-of-curriculum 8th science trip). “Happier kids” – less academically competitive Hispanic students.
2008-10 EdData access (% meeting standard)
http://www.ed-data.k12.ca.us/App_Resx/EdDataClassic/fsTwoPanel.aspx?#!bottom=/_layouts/EdDataClassic/profile.asp?tab=0&level=07&ReportNumber=16&County=43&fyr=1314&District=69591&School=6047989
2016-17 EdData access
http://www.ed-data.org/district/Santa-Clara/Mountain-View-Whisman
4 weeks less – the math: 3 years (6th, 7th, 8th) of Essential Elements week + 8th Science trip week
@weird
The constant uninformed complainers that run through the district are also quite an anomaly. Rather than asking me to explain all this to you on a forum, just show up and see for yourself. And see Steve Nelson’s comments above regarding some of the reasons one was replaced. They are accurate. Then again, if you were plugged in like you’re pretending to be here, this you would know. I agree that these principals are great friends of the community. But there were significant failures in significant portions of their work with respect to their schools and parts of their faculty and student bodies. They are not the right person for this job at this time.
@Cfrink I have great respect for the hours you give to the schools, and those hours equal knowledge worth listening too.
But it’s wrong to think those who reach a different conclusion are ill-informed.
One of the systemic problems with the district is its view that it has all the answers. Nothing was normal about the process used for the principal changes, though that should not stop everyone from doing their best to give these new principals a strong and welcoming start.
@Christopher Chiang: re: your comment,”Nothing was normal about the process used for the principal changes….” That is strictly your opinion and should be stated as such. How can you, as a former Board member privy to the legal perameters the District operates under, make such a misleading statement. Number one: you well know that these principals were informed of these decisions at least two months before the public announcement. Number two: who are you to say that the proceedings were not “normal.” Your definition of “normal” could very well be very different from legal.
@ Christopher Chiang
My comments have been a bit on the harsh side about the last few scandals for a few reasons. I’ve seen people criticize this particular Superintendent for managing tasks that are the main or general purpose of his job. I’ve seen people criticize this Superintendent for doing things that the previous Supers did since I’ve arrived. I’ve seen people criticize him for being a strong and decisive manager. These are all familiar criticisms to me. I got these same criticisms as I rose to senior management and it had nothing to do with the actual work I was doing or the effectiveness thereof. I criticize these folks because if they were really involved, if they were really paying attention, they would be upset about losing these folks but they would have a crystal clear understanding as to why they were losing these folks.
Anyone not understanding why these folks were replaced simply isn’t paying attention. That’s not an opinion, it’s a fact. Steve Nelson eloquently commented on just one such administrator whom I totally adore. But these are realities and people need to understand them and accept them as such. So, I would respectfully disagree with your position and suggest that you and I have a beer/soda summit and chat about it. It’s long overdue my friend!
Jesus, Cleave. Why do you keep responding with BS arguments that anyone who doesn’t understand just isn’t paying attention? If paying attention was all it took, why can’t you just explain it here? Do you think that perhaps the reason people are so disgruntled is that these non-answers are all you give? I get that you’re protective of the group you’re intimately involved with, but you are not helping your cause by being so dismissive of everyone. You’re just engendering even more distrust.