New faces at three schools STEPHEN MARTINEZ, ADULT ERNESTO LEON, EDISON
By PATRICK KINMARTIN Special to the Daily Press
With summer coming to an end, three new principals in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District are set to begin their new jobs.
Gloria Duran-Contreras of John Muir Elementary School, Stephen Martinez of the Adult Education Center and Ernesto Leon of the Edison Language Academy were selected for the positions by the district earlier in the summer. The selections were made by the different schools based on several criteria, including interviews and resume reviews, according to the district.
Here is a closer look at the three new principles in the district:
Gloria Duran-Contreras, John Muir Elementary School
The school year is yet to start, but Duran-Contreras might already be recognizable to some students and parents at John Muir. Last year, she was highlighted on the PBS television series “Teaching Reading L-2 — A Library of Classroom Practice.”
Although she enjoyed the experience, Duran-Contreras jokingly said she “has no plans to go into TV anytime soon” and will remain committed to her career as an educator.
“Education has always been where my heart is,” she said. “It’s like Cesar Chavez once said, ‘It is up to us to educate from the heart.’ That has always been my approach.”
Duran-Contreras has never been one to doubt the value of education at a young age. She was born in Mexico, then came to California with her Spanish-speaking family and quickly picked up English.
She ended up becoming the first member of her family to earn a college degree when she graduated from Loyola Marymount University in 1977.
In 1978, Duran-Contreras began work in the Inglewood Unified School District where she worked for six years as a substitute, classroom and adult ESL teacher.
She came to the SMMUSD in 1985 to teach at Will Rogers Elementary School. Since then, she has taught all grades at the school and served on several different committees, including the language appraisal team and the instructional leadership team.
While at Will Rogers, Duran-Contreras also lectured at UCLA’s graduate education school, worked for a large education consulting firm and served on President George W. Bush’s National Board of Professional Teaching Standards, which enabled her to present workshops for Spanish speaking parents.
“That experience really opened my eyes,” Duran-Contreras said. “You can always learn something new — no matter how long you've been in the business of teaching.”
Duran-Contreras will now set her sights on becoming a principal for the first time in her 25-year career. She said there are many things she hopes to accomplish at John Muir, but ultimately her aim is to make “a great school out of one that is already good.”
Although it is her first job as a principal, her background and experience make her a natural leader, said Maureen Bradford, the principal of Will Rogers who worked with Duran-Contreras for 15 years.
“She has such a keen insight,” Bradford said. “She has always had a gift for thinking globally and being able to see the big picture. She became known (at Will Rogers) as someone parents and students could go to for sound advice.
“Now that she’s gone, I think will be visiting her many times for that insight as well.”
Stephen Martinez, Adult Education Center
As a lifelong Santa Monica resident who went to school in the district, Martinez has worked in various capacities as an educator in the area in which he grew up.
His first teaching job was at Will Rogers Elementary School and he comes to the Adult Education Center after spending eight years as the principal of Edison Elementary School.
“I have always felt my work locally has been a step toward giving back what I have received from this community,” said Martinez, a 1968 graduate of Santa Monica High School. “And that will especially apply to my new position as I begin working with adults in the area.”
Although he has worked predominantly with children throughout his career, Martinez’s experience as a bilingual educator landed him at the Adult Education Center, a school that specializes in English as Second Language programs for adults.
In 1976, he was named the SMMUSD Board of Education’s director of bilingual education after two years as a teacher at Will Rogers.
He went on to become principal of Farraguat Elementary school in Culver City, where he set up El Moreno — California’s first multi-language program with Japanese and Spanish immersion at the same school.
From 1992 to 1995, he worked on the Carnegie Task Force, a program put together by national bilingual educators who worked in conjunction with the government to examine and improve the nation’s focus on bilingual elementary education.
He returned to Santa Monica in 1995 to take over as principal at Edison, where he stayed for eight years.
“I know there are going to be a lot of people at this school who will be sorry to see him go,” said Nancy Rankin, an Edison teacher who worked with Martinez all eight years. “I’ve worked under eight principals in my career and he was by far the best.”
Martinez said he hopes to expand the Adult Education Center’s offerings to include more programs such as vocational classes and enrichment opportunities. He also said he would like to further develop the school’s plans for computer lab classes.
Accomplishing those goals will be a welcome challenge for Martinez, who has what many feel is a proven track record in the city.
“He has done so well because he knows how the district works and how to get things done around here,” said Linda Basley, another Edison teacher who worked with Martinez for his entire tenure at the school.
3F5,“He knows everybody, and that will only help him continue to be of major benefit to the educational community,” she said.
Ernesto Leon, Edison Elementary School
Leon comes to Edison as its first new principal in eight years with a master’s degree in education from Harvard and a stint on the National Association of Bilingual Education in Washington, D.C. under his belt.
But his impressive resume was not the only reason he was hired at Edison.
“We noticed he was very supportive and receptive of everyone’s ideas, and that’s key when you’re looking for a good principal,” said Rankin, who interviewed Leon during the hiring process. “If you go around and ask those faculty here who have met him, I think the consensus would be that he is going to be a great fit for the school.”
After spending a year in Washington as a writer and research analyst for the National Association of Bilingual Education, Leon returned to California in 1993 and became a bilingual teacher in the Oakland Unified School District.
In 1997, he moved back to Los Angeles, where his teaching career began six years earlier with the LA Unified School District. In his second term with the LAUSD, however, he took a position as the district’s bilingual coordinator.
“I learned very quickly bilingual education is not only beneficial, but also practically necessary in today’s society,” Leon said. “There is a very direct link between what a bilingual education promotes and what our society and economy needs.”
Leon was brought out to the Azusa Unified School District in 2002 to become the assistant principal at Murray Elementary School. Then, when the position at Edison opened up last spring, Leon jumped at the chance to fill it.
“It's a special opportunity,” he said. “I really believe a good language program is key to building a solid community and Edison has that type of program.”
Leon said he hopes he can help students at Edison achieve their goals in attaining the “best bilingual education possible,” while continuing to build the school’s dual-language immersion program by providing experienced educators.
“Working collaboratively is crucial in building a successful education program,” he said. “Edison already has an illustrious history, but the challenge now is to keep it going.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 16, 2003. Read the original PDF.