Schools

Clayton Valley Principal Ready to Walk Away

Gary Swanson leaves concerned about funding for the state's public schools, but proud of his accomplishments, including the creation of Clayton Valley's learning academies.

For 22 years, Gary Swanson has been a teacher and administrator in California's public school system. There won't be a 23rd.

Clayton Valley High's principal announced his retirement recently and as he departs, the school is looking to do what no Bay Area public high school has ever done — become a charter school.

Swanson, 59, says the move to turn Clayton Valley into a charter is a factor in his retirement, but not the chief reason. He says the demands of the job, the constant budget pressure and frustration with public school system's inability to adapt to a changing world have pushed him out. His declining health, he says, is another motivator.

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"The doctor put me on blood-pressure medication for the first time," Swanson says. "My health is being impacted. My health isn't the only reason I'm leaving, but it was a wake-up call."

A Love of Teaching

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Swanson started his career as a teacher. But in the late 1970s, with the passage of Proposition 13, which lowered property taxes and took money away from schools, Swanson says teaching didn't provide the job security he wanted.

He went into business for 15 years, but his love of teaching eventually brought him back to the classroom. Teaching and working with students is how he wanted to finish his career. What troubled him was the curriculum. The same things he taught a decade and half earlier still were being taught, even though the world had changed. In hopes of improving what's taught in the classroom, he became an administrator.

Clayton Valley

Swanson was a principal in Southern California, where he lived most of his life, before moving to Clayton Valley six years ago.

"My wife's from the Sacramento area and always complained there were no seasons in Southern California," Swanson says. "Our son went to Cal and we were familiar with the area so when the opening came up (at Clayton Valley), I took the job."

He says he inherited a school that many saw as lacking character.

"One of the things people would say is the school didn't have much personality or soul," Swanson says. "I think we've started to change that with the Renaissance class and the campus cleanup days."

Swanson also says Clayton Valley had a culture problem with standardized tests; students weren't taking them seriously, which was hurting the school's Academic Performance Index (API).

API scores have increased under Swanson's leadership, but the school's scores still rank low compared with similar schools in the state. In 2010, Clayton Valley scored a 776, below the California state goal of 800 and lower than the median score of similar schools, 826.

This year, Swanson helped start the "800 Club," with a goal to raise awareness about the importance of standardized tests.

"If we can get students to stop making patterns on their tests we could get some valid data," Swanson says. "If you're getting inaccurate data you don't know where the weak spots are."

Two accomplishments he's proud of are the engineering and environmental science academies on campus.

"These (academies) allow students to work as a team, which is a much better learning environment," Swanson says.

A pleasant surprised him during his tenure, he says, was the amount of parent involvement. He gives the Parent Faculty Club credit for helping bring more computers into the classrooms, maintaining athletics in the face of district cuts and raising money for the school.

"(Swanson) is a really nice guy — easy to work with and approachable," says PFC President Alison Bacigalupo.

But managing the budget in the face of cuts was a constant struggle for Swanson.

From having to issue teacher pink slips annually to a complete cut of sports funding, Swanson says he was forced to do more with less.

"Pink slips would come out not just to brand new teachers, but to older teachers, too," Swanson says. "It creates turmoil among the staff ... it made it difficult to attract and maintain quality teachers."

Many Clayton Valley teachers say they appreciate Swanson and his leadership. 

Tim Fester, an AP science teacher who has taught at Clayton Valley for 40 years, says Swanson always told teachers what he really thought and truly cared about the staff and students.

"I was hoping he would see my retirement instead of me seeing his," Fester says.

Margaret Law has taught math at Clayton Valley for 10 years. Swanson always has "cared about the kids" and been "very fair and supportive," she says.

Dennis Doster, a first-year earth science teacher, says that in his short time at Clayton Valley, he has enjoyed working with Swanson. "He's a good guy," Doster says, "and a hard worker."

Going Charter

This year, a group of Clayton Valley administrators, teachers and parents have been pushing to turn Clayton Valley into a charter school by the 2012-13 school year.

It's unclear if the idea will become a reality. Serious hurdles still have to be cleared, including possible resistance from the Mount Diablo Unified School District. But what is clear is that Swanson won't be the principal of the public charter school.

It doesn't mean he doesn't have an opinion on the topic.

"I think it depends how the charter is articulated," Swanson says. "If it's another version of what the school has always been, then I think it will be a step backwards. If it takes best practices and puts them into action through various programs, then I think it could be a very positive way to make some changes that would otherwise be much slower."

Swanson warns that with the state budget is in such flux, the money expected to be available for the charter school might not be there. But, he adds, the charter school could be successful if a goal is clearly stated and everyone works toward it.

Still Searching for Change

"I am inundated with emails from parents concerned we are going to lose some of our best teachers," Swanson says. "Like as if it were a choice of mine. It's just frustrating. The whole system is frustrating."

It's a system Swanson has been part of for more than two decades, but he says he lacks the "fire in his belly" to continue as a principal.

"I'm not completely wiped out, but this job takes a lot of energy," he says.

He still might have a role in education, Swanson says, though he doesn't know in what capacity. What he does know is that he won't be a principal again.

But he's still passionate about finding ways to make the learning experience relevant to students.

"The challenge for our graduates is quite different than the challenge of 10 years ago," Swanson says. "Students need to be able to access, process and analyze problems and find solutions. That's how curriculum needs to be presented."

Swanson says he doesn't have any regrets about his decision to retire. Before it was made, he had trouble sleeping at night. Now, he says, he sleeps fine.


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