Principals at two of the six elementary schools in the Los Alamitos Unified School District will not be leading their campuses next school year.
After starting at J.H. McGaugh Elementary school in the 2020-21 school year, Issaic Gates, Ed.D. announced on April 29 that he will be leaving at the end of this school year.
In a message to families Gates wrote “..[I]t’s with both a sad and excited heart that I share that I will not return as McGaugh’s principal next year, as I will begin a new adventure. And while I’m not at liberty to share those next steps yet, it has become evident that the next step will take me away from the sea lion family.”
Gates was not just the principal at McGaugh but his two daughters are current students on the campus and his family lives in Seal Beach.
(Note: I am a McGaugh parent and worked with Gates as a PTA executive board member and our kids are in the same class.)
Prior to coming to McGaugh, he served as principal at San Marino High School in Los Angeles County starting in 2017. Before that he was an assistant principal at Los Alamitos High School.
Francis Hopkinson Elementary Principal Evelyn Garcia also announced on April 29 that she would leave her post at the Rossmoor campus. She will stay in the district and replace retiring principal Erin Kominsky at Oak Middle School next school year.
Garcia said it wasn’t really goodbye since she could see her Hopkinson students again soon.
“As our Huskies complete their elementary journey and advance to the middle school level, I will eagerly await our reunion,” she wrote.
Garcia has been at Hopkinson for the past seven years and was named the district’s administrator of the year in 2021. Prior to that she was a teacher at Hopkinson and Weaver Elementary and a program director at the Los Alamitos Education Foundation, according to a 2015 Event-News Enterprise article.
The district is working to find replacements for Gates and Garcia. A posting for the positions is now on the district’s website and lists a start date of July 1. The salary range for the position is $131,682 to $151,794 annually. The deadline to apply for the jobs is May 23. Initial interviews are expected to happen the next day with panel interviews scheduled for May 26 and final interviews on May 31.
Parents and other stakeholders have been involved in the hiring process. They have been able to give input via surveys and in-person meetings the district has held.
Los Alamitos Unified School District Superintendent Andrew Pulver, Ed.D, expects there to be around 20-30 applicants and is confident the district will attract a talented pool of candidates.
“I’m really optimistic,” he said at a recent meeting with McGaugh parents. The qualities he looks for in a principal are that they are a great instructional leader, an excellent communicator and listener, a collaborator, someone who is “buoyant” and can bounce back from challenges and can motivate and inspire students, staff and families.
Pulver expects an announcement on the new hires before the end of this school year.
Both Gates and Garcia expressed gratitude to families for their time working with students.
“You should know that greeting you and your beautiful children every morning, seeing the trust in your eyes as you left them under my charge, and creating an environment for them to flourish while going through a historic pandemic has been the honor of my life. I am proud of the work we have done together, and I look forward to seeing what’s next for McGaugh,” Gates wrote.
While Garcia told families: “It is a cherished privilege to be part of your child’s educational journey. It has truly been an honor to serve this community and the children who come into our classrooms. Today and always, I am a Husky4Life!”
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