GILROY
– South Valley Assistant Principal Sal Tomasello and one
undisclosed candidate have thrown their hats into the ring for the
principal’s position at Ascencion Solorsano Middle School.
GILROY – South Valley Assistant Principal Sal Tomasello and one undisclosed candidate have thrown their hats into the ring for the principal’s position at Ascencion Solorsano Middle School.
Interviews began today and the position could be filled as early as Feb. 13. The district is limiting the applicant pool to in-house administrators.
“To be able to open up a school and establish a campus culture is a rare opportunity for an administrator,” Superintendent Edwin Diaz said. “It’s a nice opportunity to start fresh.”
The district’s newest campus, which cost roughly $25 million, is set to open in September for the beginning of the 2003-04 school year. The state-of-the-art school will house incoming sixth-graders and students from Eliot Elementary School, which is being razed and rebuilt next school year. By 2005-06, the school will house sixth- through eighth-grade students. Eliot students would return to their regular campus sometime in 2004.
“I’m thoroughly excited to potentially be the person who opens this new school. Being a principal is something I’ve been working hard to become for a while now,” Tomasello said Tuesday. “I’d want this opportunity even if it didn’t mean opening a brand new school.”
The school district will not say who the second candidate is due to personnel and confidentiality issues. Qualified district administrators include Luigi Aprea principal Sergio Montenegro, Rucker principal Steve Gilbert, GUSD Assistant Superintendent Linda Piceno, Community Day School Principal Jim Gama and South Valley Principal Paul de Aroyo. All of them told The Dispatch they were not vying for the job.
“I don’t believe my work is done here,” Luigi Aprea Principal Sergio Montenegro said.
Montenegro would be considered a front-runner since he has three years experience at the district’s highest-performing school. Several years ago, he opened Community Day School which has a population that includes middle schoolers.
Potential candidates who did not return phone calls before deadline include Antonio Del Buono Principal Pat Midtgaard, Eliot Principal Diane Elia and Brownell Middle School Principal Suzanne Damm.
Whoever wins the principal’s post will have their work cut out for them. Not only will they oversee the opening and the running of the middle school, they’ll be doing it while they continue working at their current job.
Given a tight budget and the phasing in of the middle school population, the district will hire the new principal at 20 to 40 percent of the regular full-time rate.
“And believe it or not, we have applicants,” quipped Piceno, the GUSD’s assistant superintendent of human resources.
The part-time arrangement is due to the need for “creative budgeting” and because of Eliot Principal Diane Elia’s presence on the campus throughout the school day, Piceno said.
It creates a problem if the district is not satisfied with its in-house applicants.
“Not many administrators would leave full-time work outside the district to take part-time work here,” Piceno said.
Piceno expressed confidence in the current applicants but said the decision is up to the selection committee made up of teachers, parents, administrators and other staff. Piceno does not sit on that panel.
Because the district is searching in-house first, Piceno said the low number of applicants was expected.
“I figured a minimum of two applicants and no more than four,” Piceno said.
Full-time middle school principals earn between $86,600 and $103,500 a year, depending on experience. Stipends worth as much as $1,500 are given for professional development and advanced degrees.
Tomasello, 53, has lived in Gilroy 43 years and has 31 years experience as an educator. A former Brownell student and graduate of then South Valley High School, Tomasello has been assistant principal at South Valley the past three school years. He also served as Gilroy High athletic director for 16 years.
Tomasello is part of two existing committees with a hand in reforming GUSD middle schools.
He sits on the panel that presented the school board Thursday with a plan for determining how students are cast into middle schools. A second panel Tomasello is a part of will outline an academic and extracurricular plan for all GUSD middle schools in front of school board trustees Feb. 13.
Initially, the Solorsano principal was to be hired by late spring, but GUSD officials are trying to get a jump on staffing and curriculum issues.
Recently, Superintendent Edwin Diaz called a meeting with disgruntled parents whose children are currently in the district’s only full-time Gifted And Talented Education program at Rucker Elementary. Starting next year, all sixth-graders, including GATE students at Rucker, are slated for enrollment in middle schools. Rucker parents worry their GATE kids will not be receiving the specialized instruction to which they’ve become accustomed.
The GUSD has defended its academic plan for the middle schools, saying its plan to separate students into three groups based on ability will meet the specific needs of all students.
Ascencion Solorsano Principal Candidates
IN:
Sal Tomasello
Current position: assistant principal at South Valley Middle School.
Qualifications: Taught at middle school and high school in GUSD for 31 years; former dean and athletic director at Gilroy High School; South Valley assistant principal past three school years; sat on recent committees to establish new middle school curriculum.
Status: Interviews for Solorsano principal’s job today.
OUT:
Sergio Montenegro
Current position: principal at Luigi Aprea Elementary school.
Qualifications: Opened Community Day School; principal at district’s top-performing school (Luigi) past three years; sat on recent committee to establish new middle school curriculum.
Status: Staying at Luigi; “I don’t believe my work is done here,” he said.
MAYBE:
Suzanne Damm
Current position: principal at Brownell Middle School.
Qualifications: Has experience running a middle school and implementing academic programs, but school has not improved test scores two years in a row and faces state intervention; sat on recent committee to establish new middle school curriculum.
