Hollister
– Students weren’t the only ones facing new challenges as San
Benito High School opened its doors for the first day of school
Monday.
Hollister – Students weren’t the only ones facing new challenges as San Benito High School opened its doors for the first day of school Monday.
SBHS officials recently named Linda Row as a new assistant principal this year, taking over for longtime ‘Baler Santiago Echaore, who retired this spring.
Row will be one of three assistant principals – including Duane Morgan and Krystal Lomanto – at a school that serves nearly 3,000 students.
“She’s only been with us for five years,” SBHS Superintendent Jean Burns Slater said. “But she has accomplished quite a lot. … It’s nice to have somebody coming in from the teaching world, but who also has a background in the private sector. She’s very well-rounded.”
Row completed her undergraduate work at the University of San Francisco and completed her master of art in educational leadership through San Jose State University while teaching at SBHS last May. She came to SBHS as an English teacher and yearbook adviser in 2001 and became English division chair in 2005.
“As an English major, I got used to the question ‘What are you going to do, teach?” wrote Row in an e-mail. “I spent 9 years … in textbook and education publishing. Then decided I needed a big change after having my first child.”
Row said she learned about the position just after completing her master’s, which qualified her for an entry-level administrative position such as assistant principal.
“I saw the position as an opportunity to support positive changes Principal Debbie Padilla envisions for our school, and as an opportunity to ‘do more good’ (ungrammatical, but heartfelt) for more students than I could reach in my own classroom,” she wrote. “I was, as they say, in the right place at the right time.”
Typically, assistant principals share the same general responsibilities – all are concerned with student safety, for example, and lead “student support teams,” small groups of educators that focus on a certain group of students. Row is also responsible for ensuring the success of the new “‘Baler Connections” advisory or study hall period, improving student curriculum, and coordinating Back to School Night and Eighth Grade Preview night, among myriad other duties.
“Students will see me on campus during supervision duty before school, at brunch, at lunch and after school, as well as at events such as football games, drama productions and the prom,” she wrote. “In the last few weeks I’ve learned that ‘administrator’ means ‘no lunch!'”
Row said one of her goals as assistant principal was working to implement more rigorous curriculum standards at SBHS.
“We can ‘set the bar high’ for students so long as we provide the means for students to reach those high expectations,” she wrote. “I want to see all of our students be better prepared for whatever they choose to do after high school.”
Despite her excitement with tackling a new challenge, Row admitted she already misses working with students in the classroom.
“I got lots of hugs and good wishes from my former students (Monday), but it pains me to think that soon there won’t be any students who knew me as a classroom teacher instead of as an administrator,” she wrote. “That’s the trade, though, I guess. I feel like the little mermaid – you can have something you want, but you have to give up something you love.”
Row will be succeeded as English department chair by Amber Berg.
Danielle Smith covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or ds****@fr***********.com.
