by Aliza Kilburn and Strong Sims, staff writers
Galileo has a new principal this year, who intends on building community in the school in order to create a better place for both students and staff. Many are unaware of his extensive experience working with youth in and out of schools, long before becoming the principal of Galileo.
His life growing up was, to say the least, both unexpected and inspiring. He was the youngest of 4 boys, and was raised by his abusive step-father after his mother passed away during his freshman year. Mr. Avila was never a perfect student, but was always a very hard worker. During his sophomore year, he was emancipated, living from house-to-house and even being homeless for a while. He sustained himself by working 30 hours a week at the local Safeway. At the end of his sophomore year, he was expelled and given a contract – stating that if he was a good student and kept out of trouble for a half a year, he would be able to transfer back to his school and graduate there. When it was time for him to go back, they didn’t want to let him back in – but he had the contract. With the help of his principal from the other school, Dick Ryan, he was let back into his old school and managed to graduate. The very next day, he was on a plane to get away from his hometown.
“I knew from that point on that I was going to work with kids,” Avila said in the interview.
Galileo Food Fest in the courtyard.
Peter Avila began his profession in education during his senior year at UC Davis working as an intern at a continuation high school in West Sacramento. After graduating college, he worked at a group home for juvenile sex offenders (kids who had committed a sex-offense). Mr. Avila spent about a year working at the group home, then worked at the Oaks Children’s Center in San Francisco, a non-public school for special education students that had severe needs. Avila then moved up to Humboldt County, working as a youth worker at Redway Elementary for about a year and a half before coming back to the Bay Area. He decided to teach at Oakland Unified School District for ten years at an elementary school. After he retired from that position, he got his master’s degree at Cal State, and came back to San Francisco to become an instructional coach at Bret-Hart, a school in the Hunter’s Point/Bayview area. He was then appointed principal at Marshall Elementary, working there 14 years, before deciding he wanted to work with older kids, and coming to Galileo.
Why is this important? The principal’s past experience in education goes to show that he has been dedicated to working with and improving youth for over 25 years, and that he will bring that dedication here to the students and staff of Galileo.
