By Jonathan Caamal, Staff Writer
The SFUSD Board of Education has approved Mr. Avila to come back as principal of Galileo for the 2023-2024 school year. Mr. Avila started off as an intern for the 2022-2023 school year, but with the Board removing his “intern” status, Mr. Avila plans to put his focus on the improvements he wants to see at Galileo.
Mr. Avila says, “No I’m not an intern anymore, I’m here now and I’m here for the students and the school.”
With the opportunity to continue as principal, Mr. Avila has begun to focus on some of the things that he believes the school can improve on, including; school spirit, building a stronger community, and improving communication between students and teachers. Mr. Avila believes trying to make these changes will help make an impactful change for Galileo.
Before coming to Galileo Mr. Avila worked at Marshall Elementary for thirteen years. As a principal at Marshall, he also looked to make changes in his first year as a principal but got a lot of pushback and delays. Due to this previous experience, Avila has been learning and listening to what the students at Galileo want in the future for the school.
In particular, one thing a lot of the students and staff have mentioned to Mr. Avila that the school is missing is communication as a community. Mr. Avila states,”It could be the pandemic that caused everyone to distance themselves but communication as a whole is an important factor for this school” Avila is looking forward to hosting more rallies for students, more events to bring together the school and form a community where everyone feels like they know each other.
Mr. Avila knows that making these changes will not happen right away and is being patient through this process. He says, “Putting in the work will take time, as of now we’re trying to put a lot of things in place for next year but having a new system and trying it this year is something that we’re trying to also do. Allocating money to make these things possible is also something to consider to end the year on a positive note.”
