We’ve known for quite a while that our beloved principal at Kelseyville Elementary, Barbie Gleason, was planning to retire at the end of the current school year. This meant we had to find someone who could maintain all the wonderful things about KES while adding some new energy and ideas. When we looked around, we realized that person was currently at Riviera Elementary: Principal Tavis Perkins.
Now, we had a new problem. With Mr. Perkins planning to take over at KES, we needed someone who could maintain all the wonderful things about the Riv while adding some new energy and ideas. Lo and behold, we already had the perfect person ready to go at the District Office: Attendance Coordinator and jack-of-all-trades Jennifer Conrad.
Although I’m excited about these upcoming changes, I am aware that change can be hard. We all get used to things the way they are. We become familiar with people’s leadership styles and feel comfortable with what we know, especially when things are going well. But life is full of change, and Mrs. Gleason deserves to retire, so change is coming.
The reason I am so optimistic about next year’s leadership changes is because each person is so well-suited to the job they’ll be taking on and because these two people collaborate so well. Mr. Perkins and Mrs. Conrad worked together as teachers and have continued to connect as their KVUSD roles evolved. Here’s a little information about each of them.
Tavis Perkins
Mr. Perkins is Kelseyville through and through. He attended school here as a student, went away to college, and then returned to spend his whole career at KVUSD—16 years as a teacher, a year as the Mountain Vista Middle School (MVMS) principal, and three years as the Riviera Elementary principal. Fun fact: Mr. Perkins attended MVMS as a seventh grader the first year it opened.
In his three years at the Riv, Mr. Perkins has put the school on solid footing with an exciting trajectory. He has helped the staff embrace Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), which helps students understand their own counter-productive behavior and try to repair any damage caused by it. He has worked with teachers and students to celebrate their successes, and he has focused on helping fifth graders make a smooth transition to middle school.
At KES, he plans to provide the same type of leadership—to collaborate with teachers and staff to support Kelseyville students. His approach boils down to four questions:
- What do we want students to know?
- How will we know if they know this?
- What do we do for students who don’t learn?
- What do we do for students who do learn?
As simple as these may sound, they provide a solid foundation for leadership and growth. The first question helps everyone establish common standards and tailor curriculum to meet those standards. The second question encourages teachers to create common assessments focused on the right priorities. The third question helps the teachers and administrators define which interventions will work best to help struggling students (remediation), and the fourth question ensures that high achievers continue to be challenged (extension).
Jennifer Conrad
Mrs. Conrad is another Kelseyville success story. She attended KVUSD schools and then returned after college to spend 20 years teaching English, English language development, journalism, yearbook, history, and physical education before moving to the District Office two years ago. Last year, she served as a teacher on special assignment and this year she is busy overseeing student attendance, teacher credentialing, programs for English learners, support for new teachers, Title IX coordination, and more.
Although Mrs. Conrad has plenty of experience mentoring teachers and coordinating programs, serving as principal at Riviera Elementary will be her first posting as a school administrator. She is thoughtful about her appointment, recognizing that with Mrs. Gleason’s retirement, people at KES were expecting a new administrator, but people at the Riv were not.
She said, “People love Mr. Perkins. I understand why staff and students at the Riv will be sorry to see him go. The good news is that he and I will work closely together, aligning standards and using similar approaches. I’m really looking forward to developing relationships with the Riviera staff and making decisions with them for the good of our students.” Mr. Perkins had nothing but positive things to say about Mrs. Conrad. “She’s great! We’ve worked together for years and she is an excellent choice for the Riv.”
Mrs. Conrad said her primary goal is to make sure students have a safe environment for learning and staff members feel supported so they can do their best work. “I have no plans for big changes. As they say, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’”
To make the transitions as seamless as possible, Mr. Perkins will spend time working with Mrs. Gleason at KES before she retires, and Mrs. Conrad will spend time with Mr. Perkins at the Riv, learning how he runs things and getting to know the staff.
And I would be remiss if I didn’t say “thank you” to Barbie Gleason for her incredible contributions to KVUSD through the years. We’ll miss her terribly.
—Dave McQueen is KVUSD Superintendent
