Canyon School Principal Dara Exits

Canyon Elementary School Principal Joyce Dara may be leaving for a new job after five years, but she knows she’s exiting the academically superior school on a high note, and it has plenty more room to climb.

“We’ve done very well,” she told the Palisadian-Post. “We just keep growing. I think it exemplifies the attitude of my teachers to grow, learn and improve.”

Thursday, June 5 marked the final school day for students, but Dara will stay on until June 23 to help with the transition for incoming Principal Nicole Sheard from Topanga Canyon Elementary School.

Dara will take on the role of instructional director at the western campus of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Education Service Center. She was supposed to exit Canyon in February, but LAUSD and the Board of Education decided to hold off on all moves.

The search for a new principal began in early February and resumed a few weeks ago, with Sheard being selected and confirmed as the final candidate.

“I personally think it was very smart of them,” Dara said about the search delay.

Dara formed many relationships with students, parents and staff at Canyon and said that moving on is “bittersweet.”

“I’ve been in a lot of schools, so it’s something I’ve experienced before, but I do feel very satisfied with the work I’ve done,” Dara said.

In standardized testing, Canyon’s success is no secret. It has the highest academic performance index in a kindergarten through fifth grade configuration in the LAUSD.

“We’re 978 for this year,” Dara said. “It’s a 27-point growth since I’ve been here.”

That, however, doesn’t tell the whole story, she adds.

“It’s the spirit of collaboration that makes Canyon strong,” she said. “We have very committed families and a community of parents and guardians, and they are so supportive of our teachers’ work at the school.”

During Dara’s tenure, Canyon grew in its instructional technology department.

Today, there is no more ‘computer lab.’ Instead, the technology comes to the students either by way of a rotating lab or having actual technology in the classroom.

“The message here is that technology isn’t a place you go to, it’s part of our daily instruction,” Dara said.

In collaboration with teachers in the community, the school opened a science lab under Dara’s tenure, where students go to engage in “tactile learning,” investigations and hands-on experiments.

“It was a huge addition,” she said.

Dara’s years at the helm didn’t come without budgetary challenges within LAUSD and the Department of Education. She said the passage of Prop 30 in 2012 was a real turning point.

“In my first and second year I walked into so many cuts and people losing their jobs,” she said.

In the face of such cuts, Dara noted that she was lucky to be in a community that rallied together to find ways to fund positions.

One of the things Dara will miss most are the morning announcements. Each Monday or Tuesday a student would come into the office and together they would write a script about what’s on tap for the week.

“We’d practice,” she said. “I’d give them coaching feedback and articulation, sound levels, emphasis and to do it within 20 minutes,” she said. “It’s one of my fondest memories. They feel so proud.”

When Canyon journalism students interviewed Dara about her favorite memories, she said, “watching kids grow from kindergarten to fourth grade, or from August to May, watching them grow just through a half year. But here, they grow in 20 minutes. That’s the most gratifying part of the job.”

The students surprised Dara in May during her “superstar of the month” announcement, which acknowledged students’ character traits including hard work and dedication.

“Just when we wrapped up, they called me up and awarded me a gigantic four-foot certificate and a beautiful book made up of all the students in all the grades,” she said. “I cried and got welled up. And my booster club acknowledged me and gave me a lovely gift.”

Dara will also miss the sheer beauty of Canyon.

“This is such a beautiful school,” she said. “There are some really good people with such huge hearts and huge love of children and education. If we could just clone that and clone the support.”

As for the future, Dara said she’s “looking forward to being in a position where I can share what I’ve learned about collaborating and working as a community to help every school be beautiful inside and out just like Canyon.”