Gilroy
– The head of Luigi Aprea will be heading north at the end of
the school year to become a middle school principal.
Gilroy – The head of Luigi Aprea will be heading north at the end of the school year to become a middle school principal.
Maria Wetzel, the two-year principal at Luigi Aprea Elementary School, will take a job at a middle school with the Oak Grove School District in south San Jose.
“I am leaving to experience other opportunities,” wrote Wetzel in an e-mail. “I have loved working at Luigi Aprea and think very highly of GUSD … their administrators, teachers and all staff members.”
During her tenure as principal, Wetzel guided the school through a 20-point gain on the Academic Performance Index – a state measure of student learning scored out of 1,000. Luigi Aprea is the only school in the Gilroy Unified School District to post higher than 800, scoring an 862 last year. The next closest elementary school is Antonio Del Buono Elementary School with 778.
Before working at Luigi Aprea, Wetzel was an elementary school principal for 10 years in Cupertino and Campbell and an elementary school teacher for 10 years.
“I am heartbroken at the loss of this colleague,” said Gail Donovan, director of assessment and intervention for the district. “She is a truly gifted educator and I have learned much from her. It has been a joy to work with her.”
The opening of the principal position at Luigi Aprea comes during a time of restructuring for the Gilroy Unified School District and just after it filled a vacancy for principal of Glen View Elementary School.
The principal of Glen View, Marilyn Ayala, took over the duties of Olivia Schaad, former director of curriculum and instruction, after Schaad’s February retirement. Starting May 1, Ayala will do this job full time and the new principal of Glen View will be Scott Otteson, currently a principal for an elementary school in Desert Hot Springs, west of Los Angeles.
In addition to Schaad retiring, assistant superintendent of human resources Linda Piceno is retiring at the end of this academic year. Both these positions will be filled once a new superintendent is hired. The board of trustees conducted the first round of interviews for the superintendent position Thursday and Friday and will announce the new hire May 17.
