February 28th, 2023
Dear Galileo Community,
I am pleased to share with you that on February 21st, 2023 SFUSD’s Board of Education approved the Principal contract for next school year 2023-2024 for Principal, Peter Avila. Principal Avila has embraced his role and quickly built positive relationships with the Galileo community. He has brought fresh perspectives to our High School Division from his many years of experience as a site leader.
Principal Avila’s contract for 2022-2023 was interim for one or more of the following reasons : 1) Candidates were hired outside of the timeline when we could complete the full community process and 2) There was not a substantial enough pool of qualified applicants to put together a more robust panel.
SFUSD acknowledges the importance of sustaining our site Administrators. We have an annual leadership turnover rate between 25-30%. Along with similar districts, SFUSD anticipates an increased challenge in recruiting and sustaining high quality Administrators in the 2023-2024 school year. We know that timely communication and decisions around site leadership impact teacher retention and provide stability and security for students and families.
To address this challenge, SFUSD put in place an alternate path for early interviews and an opportunity to waive site interviews for Interim site Administrators. To inform my approach at Galileo I solicited feedback from the School Site Council, ILT, Student Leadership, the Administrative Team, Office Staff, UBC, PTSA, and Wellness. The representative sample of data showed the community was in support of the alternate path for Principal Avila. I appreciate the collaboration from such a caring and engaged community at Galileo.
Sincerely,
Davina K. Goldwasser
Interim Assistant Superintendent of High Schools