”
This is your principal, James Maxwell. Your principal.
”
For the last time, Gilroy High School students smirked Friday at
the formal introduction their principal delivered every time he
addressed students over the loudspeaker.
“This is your principal, James Maxwell. Your principal.”
For the last time, Gilroy High School students smirked Friday at the formal introduction their principal delivered every time he addressed students over the loudspeaker.
“We know who you are!” said senior Lexi MacPhail, feigning exasperation. “I’m really going to miss his announcements.”
Maxwell, like the students who graduated Friday, will begin a new phase of life come fall as principal of the 1,900-student Fremont High School in Sunnyvale. Community members and school officials said they’ll miss his no-nonsense approach and welcoming nature.
“He never sugar coated any issue,” said trustee Javier Aguirre. “He was very frank. That honesty helped establish a good rapport with the school board.”
Students, however, said they’ll never forget their principal’s distinctive opening remarks over the public address system.
“It’s just a force of habit,” said Maxwell, 56, adding that he didn’t realize how much it amused students until a speaker joked about it during Maxwell’s first GHS graduation.
After his fourth and final graduation ceremony Friday at GHS, Maxwell remained on stage long after the 500 graduating seniors filed off the football field. Leaning into the microphone, Maxwell sang a few bars of the class song “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey – “It’s such a great graduation song, I just felt like doing it,” said the rock and roll enthusiast – before settling into a chair to take in the scene before him: partially deflated beach balls, 500 empty folding chairs and a crush of animated students searching for their delighted families.
“It’s the end of an era,” he said, his moist eyes almost spilling over.
Maxwell came to GHS the same time this year’s graduating seniors did, he said.
“The diversity and talent of this class was tremendous,” he said, emphasizing a theme that surfaced many times during graduation speeches. “I’ve never seen anyone write like Kathleen Miller in my life or been to a school that had a runner like Peter Guenther.”
His departure really hit him during graduation when he heard Chamber Singers perform their last song together, Maxwell said.
“For the first time, I thought – ‘Oh my god, these kids are leaving.’ They’re not going to sing in Phil (Robb’s) choir ever again,” Maxwell said. “Phil is going to miss so much of his talent.”
Maxwell pointed to other school successes during his tenure – such as receiving the California Distinguished School award from the state, staff boosting the Latino population’s performance on standardized tests and the girls cross country team earning the highest team grade point average, a 3.9545 for all sports teams statewide – as some of the memories he will take with him next year.
Maxwell and his family will remain in Gilroy, where his son attends Brownell Middle School and his daughter attends Luigi Aprea Elementary School.
“Gilroy is a small town just like out of the movies,” he said. “That’s why many people love it here. I think it appeals to adults because they want to bring their kids up in this environment.”
Staying in Gilroy will also make GHS’s transition under the leadership of a new principal easier, he said. Superintendent Deborah Flores expects the school board to appoint Maxwell’s successor at Thursday evening’s board meeting, she said. She would not give details about the candidate, except that he was male. Flores said Maxwell will be missed and that even though she wished he would stay, his replacement is well-suited for the job.
Maxwell will leave GHS with mixed emotions but is looking forward to opportunities for growth. As one of five high school principals in Fremont Union High School District, Maxwell said he will receive a 25 percent pay raise over his current compensation of $151,000, including salary and benefits. Moving from a unified district with only one high school to a high school district with five will also allow him to network regularly with four other principals, he said.
“It’ll be nice to be able to bounce things back and forth,” he said. “Like anything new, it’s fun to meet new people and learn from them.”
The move was a serendipitous combination of being ready for a new challenge and receiving a recruitment package from Fremont Union, he said.
Maxwell will have time to take only a couple deep breaths before throwing himself into his new job. The days after graduation will be filled with house cleaning followed by the quick transition up north. But in the few minutes after the Class of 2009 cleared off the football field, he savored the two hours that preceded the silent field.
“As far as graduations go, this was one of the best groups of speeches I’ve heard,” he said. “And I’ve heard 35 years worth. This was a tough group to top.”
