Community Prepares to Welcome New Principal

Future principal of Campolindo Pete Alvarez was introduced to the community by the Acalanes Union High School High School District (AUHSD) Governing Board on March 28. He will replace current principal John Walker, with his official start date coming up on July 1.

Alvarez has 10 years of experience serving as the principal of Rampart High School in Colorado Springs and has also previously taught and worked as an administrator in Castro Valley, California. However, he looks forward to coming back to the Bay Area and returning “home,” where he was born and raised.

Formerly, Alvarez attended Moraga’s own St. Mary’s College, where he did his undergraduate studies in history, teaching and administrative credentials, and Master of Arts in Educational Leadership. “I feel like I am coming back to where my career in education began. That is pretty special,” he said.

Entering his new position, Alvarez said that he hopes to approach challenges with “collaboration and respect.”

With this, current principal John Walker intends to do the same. He said he plans to meet Alvarez on the week of April 25, and during that time plans to show him around the campus, meet student leaders and teachers, and visit classrooms.

In the coming weeks, Walker also believes that there will be a “smooth transition” from principal-to-principal and is confident that the Campolindo community will welcome Alvarez. “We have an excellent staff, we have great student leadership in place. We’ve got great partnerships with our parent community [as well],” he said.

Alvarez also plans on trying his best to build trust with those involved at Campo. He said, “Before I can accomplish anything I have to build trust with the entire Campolindo community… [and] learn about the Campolindo culture. I plan on doing a lot of listening and learning. Once I build trust and understand culture, my hope is that as principal I can improve the high school experience for every student, create post-secondary opportunities for every student, ensure that every student feels connected in some way to the community, and that we find ample opportunities to laugh and have fun.”

Alvarez also hopes to work with the community, including existing administrators and staff members, to build upon Campo’s strides towards increased equity. “​​We have to make sure that everyone has a seat at the table. Let’s start working on making sure that we build our table big enough. I intend to make sure that my door is open to every member of the Campolindo community and that we work towards identifying and taking down barriers to student success,” he said.

Walker commented on this, and said that through his conversations with Alvarez he found out that “he places diversity, equity, [and] inclusion as a very high priority.” This has also been shown throughout his career in the Bay Area and Colorado.
According to the Leadership Equity Council (LEC)’s future Co-Executive Director for the 2022-2023 school year junior Elizabeth Chien, the class already meets regularly with Walker in discussing issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. “On [the Restorative Justice Committee] we’re working with [the Bias Incident Report Team (BIRT)] and Walker to make sure things get approved and everything runs smoothly. I expect next year that all the boards will be working more closely with admin as well.”

Walker speculates that Alvarez will spend part of his summer “learning what initiatives are in place and getting to know the key leaders regarding [Campo’s] equity initiatives.”

With that, Chien expects more involvement from Alvarez regarding equity efforts, such as “having monthly meetings about the initiatives [LEC has] been working on… We will be scheduling meetings with him.”

Alvarez is receptive to this, and overall is “excited…to meet all the members of the Campolindo community. There is so much I have to learn. And I would be lying if I said I was just a little nervous. Kind of like the first day of freshman year nervous.”