Gilroy
– The new principal at Glen View Elementary School will be
plucked from an elementary school in Desert Hot Springs, west of
Los Angeles.
Gilroy – The new principal at Glen View Elementary School will be plucked from an elementary school in Desert Hot Springs, west of Los Angeles.
Scott Otteson was selected by the staff of the Gilroy Unified School District and unanimously approved by the board of trustees Thursday.
“His references were glowing,” said Linda Piceno, assistant superintendent of human resources, who headed the search for the principal.
Otteson is currently the principal of Edward L. Wenzlaff Elementary School, which is in the Palm Springs Unified School District. He was chosen from among 25 applicants in a process that involved two interviews.
He appealed to the district because of his wealth of experience in a number of positions, said Piceno. Otteson has been an elementary teacher, a vice principal, a principal and worked at a district office, she said.
He is a “good human being, loves kids, has a good background in curriculum, extensive experience in education,” Piceno said.
He has experience working in underperforming schools, she said. All of the Palm Springs schools are in program improvement – meaning they did not meet state performance criteria on student tests for two consecutive years. Glen View is currently not in program improvement but three other district schools are in their first year, one is in its second year and one is in its third year.
The vacancy at Glen View was the result of shifts within the district following the February 2007 retirement of Olivia Schaad, former director of curriculum and instruction. Marilyn Ayala took over Schaad’s duties on March 1 and is juggling those duties with her current responsibilities as principal of Glen View. She will vacate that position at the end of the 2006-2007 school year and Otteson will take over for the 2007-2008 school year.
Otteson will come to a board meeting in May to meet district staff and the community, said Tom Bundros, president of the board.
Otteson was unavailable for comment.
