Gloria Martinez Tapped for PaliHi Principal Job

Gloria Martinez, former UCLA professor in the Educational Leadership Program and Malibu High School vice principal, has been selected the new principal at Palisades High School. Martinez will become the first principal in the independent charter school’s new leadership team, which will also include an executive director. The West Los Angeles resident was chosen from a final field of four candidates who were screened and interviewed by the school’s Board of Governors last month. Born and raised in Whittier, Martinez earned her doctorate from UCLA in education with a focus on the so-called achievement gap in public schools. She then taught at St. Bernard High School, a racially diverse co-educational school in Playa del Rey, before moving to Malibu High eight years ago. She taught Spanish for five years, then served as vice principal. According to outgoing Principal Mike Matthews, who is now assistant superintendent with the Santa Monica School District, Martinez achieved two notable successes as an administrator. ‘Gloria is a very follow-through person and gets things done,’ said Matthews. ‘Her best work came in solving a crisis Malibu was having in Special Education. We were not doing what we needed to do. Gloria made sure that every teacher understood what the needs were and deserves credit for bringing our school from being deficient to being a model. She is a leader in special education and all the teachers appreciated her support.’ ‘Gloria wrote her dissertation on the achievement gap, but she didn’t just leave it in the academic realm,’ Matthews continued. ‘She found ways to implement it on a practical level. She brought the AVID (Advance Via Individual Determination) program to the school. This program targets kids with potential but who aren’t going to be college-bound unless intervention happens. Malibu is now on the way to become a demonstration school.’ Martinez will concern herself with the academic and student life at 2,560-student PaliHi. Monday night, July 19, the Board of Governors will meet to determine the new leadership structure particularly the role of the executive director.