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Hello everyone and welcome back to another year at South Pasadena High School. My name is John Eldred and I am the proud new principal and I am very pleased to report to you that school is up and running, providing our students with the same quality education, athletics program, and services that you are accustomed to after so much time away from campus.
With only one month down we have already had a number of football games and volleyball games as well as other athletic matches, a virtual assembly that was a huge hit with the kids, and a virtual Back to School Night. And speaking of Back to School Night please remember to donate to Wish Night; it is a linchpin program here at the high school that allows so many more opportunities for learning for our students through your generosity.
One of the greatest pleasures I have as a principal is to be able to get to know our students through spending time in their classrooms as well as speaking with them at their tables and favorite spots during brunch and lunch. On every occasion I have been impressed by their level of maturity and sophistication, their dedication to their academics, and their respect for themselves and those around them.
Our teachers are hard at work not only assessing for learning loss and gaps that may have occurred over the last year of distance-learning but are also busy preparing them for the academic year to come. It is gratifying as a professional to be able to watch all of this in real time and to be a part of it in some small way.
This year we welcome to our staff a number of new teachers: Mrs. Katya D’Almeida and Mr. Chris Herrin to the English department; Ms. Karen Hames who is now full time with us leading Copa and the Tiger Newspaper; Mr. Ryan Long to the science department; Mrs. Janet Graff to the social studies department; and Mr. Peter Reinman to our VAPA program teaching choir. All are already acclimating to our campus and the Tiger way and we are pleased to be able to have them join us. Administrators have been busy in freshman and senior classes making visits and reminding both class of the importance of academics and of their first or final year and steps they need to take in order to make it successful. I have no doubt that they will.
As a final note, we continue to deal with the persistence and challenges that Covid present us as a school and a community. Both the school and the district are working tirelessly behind the scenes in order to maintain safety and compliance with Los Angeles County Department of Health regulations, all the while providing a quality education to the students. The district continues to provide free testing for anyone at the middle school on Tuesdays as well as regular weekly testing for our athletes.
I know many of us are in some ways exhausted by the challenges presented by this but I’m confident that we can get through it together as a community, as a school, and as a country. This cannot last forever, but what does last forever is schools like South Pasadena High School. Nothing can keep us down, nothing can stop us, we endure, as always. This is the final lesson that we impart to all of our students: never give up and never let failure stop you, but rather use it as an opportunity to learn and grow. It’s going to be a great year and I look forward to meeting so many more of you in person as time goes on.
– John Eldred, Principal
