Seasoned teacher and school administrator Debbie Padilla, the
former school boss at San Benito High School, will be Sobrato High
School’s principal beginning next month.
Morgan Hill – Seasoned teacher and school administrator Debbie Padilla, the former school boss at San Benito High School, will be Sobrato High School’s principal beginning next month.
She succeeds retiring Sobrato principal Richard Knapp who stepped down at the end of the school year after serving as a principal in the Morgan Hill Unified School District for 10 years.
Padilla, 41, was Live Oak High School assistant principal from 2000 to 2004. She’s been serving as principal at San Benito since 2004.
“I’m looking forward to working at Sobrato, continuing the tradition that has been set there and making it into an excellent school,” she told trustees Tuesday evening during the Board of Education’s regularly scheduled meeting at district headquarters.
Beginning her career as a teacher in the early 1990s, Padilla said she was certain she would never consider becoming an administrator.
“I swore I would never go into administration, I loved being in the classroom,” she said. “But then there were a couple of people pushing me in that direction, saying, ‘you already do half and half anyway,’ so I thought I’d apply and see what happens.”
After getting her bachelor’s degree in English at UC-Santa Barbara, she then earned her teaching certification at San Francisco State. Her first teaching job was at Balboa High School in San Francisco, where she taught English for a semester. She then moved to Martin Murphy Middle School, where she taught English, Spanish and English-language development classes.
After four years, Padilla moved to Homestead High School in Cupertino where she taught a variety of subjects in addition to English, Spanish and English-language development. Homestead is where she had her first contact with Knapp, though he left her second year there to take the job as Live Oak High’s principal.
While she was at Homestead, Padilla also earned her master’s degree in education from San Jose State University. Because of the administrative duties attached to her work with English-language development, she said, her colleagues encouraged her to consider administration, and in 2000, she followed Knapp to Live Oak as assistant principal.
She remained at Live Oak until 2004, when she was hired as the principal at San Benito High School. At the same time, Knapp would open Sobrato, while Live Oak would come under new leadership as Nick Boden accepted the job as principal.
“The main reason I didn’t apply (for the position of principal at Live Oak) is that it is very difficult moving from assistant principal to principal at the same site,” she said. “It’s a completely different role … People assume that whatever the last principal thought, you think. The position at San Benito was an opportunity for me to go to a school and create my own role, my own leadership style, and really be my own person.”
Padilla was selected from a pool of 19 applicants after an interview session with a panel consisting of Sobrato staff members, district officials and a parent. Panel members later discussed the candidates they interviewed before a final decision was made.
“We’re excited and honored to have a person of Debbie Padilla’s quailty to lead Sobrato High School,” MHUSD Superintendent Alan Nishino said Thursday. “I’ve heard many good things about her abiliuty to move the agenda forward for kids. She’s going to be a very, very good leader. Also, we were very pleased with the pool of candidates. There were many quality people to choose from.”
Padilla comes to Sobrato from a school almost twice it’s size. Though she will not miss the size of the school – nearly 3,000 students and a staff of approximately 300 – she said she will miss the students and staff and the “close-knit community.”
“This is very hard for me, yesterday was the hardest, when I had to inform people I was leaving,” she said. “It’s always hard to make a decision to change and move on. There are wonderful people here, it’s a wonderful community, and I will miss them greatly.”
San Benito School District Superintendent Stan Rose said he hopes the school will attract a good replacement.
“There will be a lot of people sad to see her go, just as I have been, but I’m happy for her,” Rose said. “I think it’s what she wants and needs for her career. We have to look at everything as an opportunity.”
Trustee Evelyn Muro, who hired Padilla during her final year as human resources director at San Benito High School, also said she’s sad to see her go.Â
“I wish her the best up at Sobrato. I’m confident that the human resources department will find the best person for the position,” Muro said.Â
Padilla, who has two sons, Augustin, almost 13, Benjamin, 10, and a daughter, Elissa, 7, said the smaller student body and staff were a factor in her decision to take the job as Sobrato principal.
“I’m really looking forward to getting to know the students and the staff,” she said. “With a school of that size (San Benito), you couldn’t know everyone well. I’m excited about the opportunity to know more of the students and my new staff.”
She also looks forward, she said, to working with people that she has worked with in the past. And she believes she will fit in with the school’s community.
“My philosophy is very similar to Rich’s, he’s been my mentor for a very long time; you don’t keep someone around that you don’t agree with philosophically,” she said. “I believe all students can learn, I believe all students should have opportunities available. We may have a different leadership style, we are different people, but I believe in supporting the staff. They were hired because they know what they are doing, and they do it well. I look for us to continue to move the school forward and improve student achievement across the board.”
