The Mountain View Whisman School District announced several new administrators across five schools in the district for the 2023-24 school year.

The seven staff members will start their new positions in the fall at Stevenson Elementary, Crittenden Middle School, Graham Middle School, Theuerkauf Elementary and Bubb Elementary.

“MVWSD is blessed to have a team of administrators who are education experts and have the needs of all of our students at heart. We are happy to announce new assignments for our school administrators for the 2023-24 school year. Their talents will serve these schools well,” the school district said in a district-wide email.

New principal assignments

Terri Lambert will be the new principal at Stevenson Elementary after serving as the interim principal at Stevenson this past year. She has 29 years of school administrative experience, spanning across Mariano Castro Elementary, Soledad Unified School District and Greenfield Union School District. She earned bachelor’s degrees from the University of Waterloo and University of Windsor and an administrative credential from San Jose State University.

Danielle Lyons, currently assistant principal at Crittenden Middle School, will be the new principal at Theuerkauf Elementary School.

Lyons has taught for 10 years; six of those years were at Stevenson Elementary. She earned a Master of Science in Educational Technology from Central Connecticut State University, a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education and a Bachelor of Arts in Theater from Southern Connecticut University.

Mariko Kobata will be the new principal of Bubb Elementary, replacing Principal Cyndee Nguyen who will become the district’s new Director of Early Literacy. Kobata is currently a MVWSD Special Education Coordinator and has worked as an assistant principal at Graham Middle School. Kobata came to MVWSD in 2002 as a special education teacher at Graham, and later taught at Imai Elementary.

Before MVWSD, she worked as a special education teacher at the middle school level. She has a bachelor’s degree from University of Nevada and a master’s in educational administration from the University of Phoenix.

New assistant principal positions

Michelle Williams will be the new assistant principal at Graham Middle School. She served as principal at Theuerkauf Elementary School for three years. Williams has 12 years of K-12 teaching experience. Before MVWSD, she served as Dean/Vice Principal of Instruction and as Instructional Coach at e3 Civic High in San Diego.

Williams earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Texas at Dallas and a master’s degree in Educational Leadership from San Diego State University. She is fluent in Spanish and speaks conversational Russian, Arabic, and Mandarin.

Julie Thompson will be a new assistant principal at Crittenden Middle School. Thompson has 15 years of administrative experience. Most recently, she has served as assistant principal at Graham Middle School and as a principal in the Redwood City School District. She has also served as Director of Human Resources for the Campbell Union High School District, and as an assistant principal in the San Mateo Union High School District and in the Hayward Unified School District.

Thompson has bilingual education experience as a Spanish/bilingual teacher in the Sequoia Union High School District and Ravenswood School District. She has a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from UC Davis, a master’s degree in education from San Francisco State University, and a master’s degree in educational leadership from UC Berkeley.

Other leadership changes

Cyndee Nguyen, principal at Bubb Elementary since 2014, will be the district’s new Director of Early Literacy. Nguyen will train and supervise a team of intervention teachers and instructional assistants who will work with students and staff at schools that demonstrate lower student achievement for emerging readers (K-2).

Nguyen began teaching first grade at Bubb in 2005. She received her bachelor’s from UC Berkeley, as well as her master’s and teaching credential. She is currently a doctoral student studying Educational Leadership at Fresno State University.

“MVWSD recognizes the importance of a holistic approach to address the needs of emerging readers. The Director of Literacy will provide instructional leadership and strategic direction for curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional development to ensure literacy achievement and growth across all grades,” the district said in the statement.

Perla Galeno will be an after school programming Supervisor to provide expanded oversight of MVWSD+ as part of the district's Expanded Learning Opportunities Program. She will coordinate the MVWSD+ program with Supervisor Erika Navarro. Since 2016, Galeno has been an Assistant Supervisor for Beyond the Bell, a partnership with the City of Mountain View for after-school programming.

She also worked as a program assistant for the city of Hayward, campus relations coordinator for the Ravenswood City School District and recreation specialist at the City of Mountain View. She has a bachelor’s degree in Recreation Management from Cal State East Bay.