Gilroy
– The district has two more spaces to fill now that an
elementary school principal and assistant principal have decided to
head north to San Jose for principal positions in elementary
schools.
Gilroy – The district has two more spaces to fill now that an elementary school principal and assistant principal have decided to head north to San Jose for principal positions in elementary schools.
Diane Elia, principal at Eliot Elementary School, and Barbara Harris, assistant principal at Ascencion Solorsano Middle School, plan to take positions as elementary school principals in the Oak Grove Elementary School District after they finish the school year in June.
“It’s just kind of the natural ebb and flow in the management area,” Teri Freedman, spokesperson for the district, said of the loss of the two administrators. “This is routinely what happens at this point in the school year.”
Elia has been with the district for 23 years, having been a teacher at four elementary schools and a principal at both San Ysidro Elementary School – now closed – and Eliot.
“I’ve known Diane to be so dedicated and so instrumental to our district,” said Marilyn Ayala, director of curriculum and instruction. Twelve years ago, Ayala was principal at San Ysidro when Elia first served there as third grade teacher.
“She was instrumental in really creating an effective program for her third-graders,” Ayala said.
Elia will start at Santa Teresa Elementary School, which serves kindergarten through sixth grade, this summer.
Both Elia and Harris declined to comment. But it a district press release, Elia said she “needs this opportunity in order to broaden my depth of knowledge and experience in public education for the purposes of advancing my career in the future.”
Harris held a number of different positions before coming to the district. In addition to acting in such school roles as model teacher and administrator in as varied areas as Atlanta and Philadelphia, Harris also worked on international fundraising efforts for the Catholic Church. She has been the assistant principal at Solorsano for the past two years.
“She’s been a tremendous educator that has supported our program at Solorsano in all capacities,” said Sal Tomasello, principal of the middle school.
During her time at the school, Harris has been invaluable in shaping the curriculum and coaching teachers, he said.
“It’s what we hope an assistant principal will do,” he said.
Harris will begin her duties at Rita Ledesma Elementary School, which also educates kindergarteners through sixth-graders, in July.
The vacant positions created by Elia and Harris’ departures come during a time of restructuring for the Gilroy Unified School District. The top spot at Luigi Aprea Elementary School opened up last month when outgoing principal Maria Wetzel announced that she too would be taking a spot in Oak Grove. In addition, Glen View Elementary School’s new principal, Scott Otteson, started May 1 when former principal Ayala took over as the district’s director of curriculum and instruction.
There is also movement at higher levels in the district. Gilroy has been without a permanent superintendent since March and has been conducting a search for a new head of the district since December. The board of trustees plans to announce the new superintendent May 17.
The superintendent will inherit a cabinet with two vacancies, as the assistant superintendent of educational services position has been unfilled since December and Linda Piceno, the assistant superintendent of human resources, is set to retire at the end of June. Steve Brinkman, assistant superintendent of business services, will be the only holdover from former superintendent Diaz’ top administrators.
