You Can Have Both: A Life in Education and Love
From Teaching to Leadership: A Career Built on Opportunity and Partnership
The work world was just beginning to open up for women when I started college in 1965. Oddly, both my parents had high hopes that I would pursue a career. My mother was devastated when I met William and suddenly became an elementary education major, got married, and had 2 children. She told her friends that I had “sold myself short” for my husband.
Honestly, my husband was the greatest source of happiness in my life, and I never felt I gave up anything to be with him. Nevertheless, I became bored with teaching elementary school after 10+ years. My children entered high school, and I was no longer needed as a full-time mother. My husband’s career had taken off, and he worked long hours. One year, my principal had major health problems and missed a lot of work. I filled in for him as the principal. After the year, I honestly liked his job better than mine. I went back to college at night and got a master’s in educational administration. I got my first job as an elementary principal at a K–6 school.
As luck would have it, my husband took a job as the administrator for the California Courts during my first year as a principal. This required that he move to San Francisco. In the late spring of 1992, I started looking for a principalship in the Bay Area. The area where I worked in Utah was white, middle-class, and English-speaking. The majority of the schools where I applied for principalships were substantially more diverse than where I was working. I remember going to the city library—no internet research in 1992—to look up what bilingual education was so I could do the interview in Redwood City. Somehow, I managed to convince the parents at John Gill Elementary that I could manage their school’s population and started work there in the fall of 1992.
Managing a very different school population was only the first of my challenges in moving. To work as the principal in California, I needed both a BS and a master’s degree. No problem, I had that, except California required a different undergraduate major than I had. In addition, my master’s in educational administration only qualified me for a Tier I California credential. I needed another year of graduate hours for a Tier II credential. So I had a job on a one-year probationary credential, and I needed to go to school. I resolved the problem with my undergraduate major by passing the National Teacher’s Exam. I had 5 years to complete the Tier II requirements.
I enrolled at UC Berkeley in the Tier II program. I took 1 class each semester in 1993/94. Then the state decided that one could not get a Tier II from Berkeley. Odd that they wouldn’t honor the classwork from their flagship school, but that is California. For the next 4 years, I was busy with work. I started a Spanish immersion K–1 classroom at John Gill. It grew into a K–8 school. Also, I added K–2 classes, which became very popular with parents. After 3 years, the superintendent moved me to a magnet K–8 school, Roy Cloud, where we earned a California Distinguished School Award. Next, at the request of the superintendent, I did the setup for what was later named North Star Academy. I did the program design, hired the faculty, personally recruited every student, and opened the school.
After 5 very exciting years with Redwood City, I went back to Utah to a position with Davis School District, where I taught at the University of Utah. I loved teaching at the college level. But my husband was still in California. So I returned to California to work for Pacifica School District as the Director of Educational Support Services. I enrolled in St. Mary’s College to get the required Tier II certification. After my last semester as a student, St. Mary’s hired me to teach in their Tier II program, which I did for several years. I stayed in Pacifica for 12 wonderful years, where I eventually became the superintendent.
At my retirement dinner in June 2010, a friend who was the superintendent at Sequoia High School explained to me that he needed a personnel director to open school. He asked if I would delay my retirement and open school while he looked for a new assistant superintendent. I agreed, planning to stay 2–3 months. Two years later, I actually retired.
I had a wonderful career in education. I was a teacher, a principal, a district office administrator, a superintendent, and a college professor. I believe I made a difference for many kids. I negotiated contracts between districts and the teachers’ union for 20 years. I also had a wonderful marriage. I disagree with my mother’s statement that I “sold myself short” to get married. You can have both.
