New principals named for Newport-Mesa’s Whittier Elementary, Cloud Campus
New faces will take the lead at Newport-Mesa’s Cloud Campus and Whittier Elementary this fall.
The Newport-Mesa Unified School District recently announced that Randy Lempert will step into the shoes of former Whitter Elementary School Principal Santa Gabriela Acuña while Racquel Stephens will take on the mantle of Cloud Campus principal from Michael Sciacca, who was recently appointed director of teaching and learning for the district’s secondary schools.
Both new principals come from outside of the district, with Lempert from the Ocean View School District in Huntington Beach and Stephens from the Irvine Unified School District.
Students Tuesday learned the fundamentals of a Brazilian style of movement developed in the 16th century by West African slaves as a fighting technique cloaked in rhythm and song. Classes run Tuesday evenings in August.
Most recently, Lempert was the principal of Spring View Middle School, where he led the GATE and AVID programs, expanded electives and developed social-emotional lessons to address the needs of students. Lempert has about 10 years of experience as a site administrator, with at least six of those as a principal.
“Mr. Lempert’s strong leadership skills and ability to foster collaborative partnerships while maintaining high expectations and student outcomes, will no doubt serve the Whittier community well,” said assistant superintendent of elementary education John Drake in a statement announcing Lempert’s appointment.
Lempert received his master’s in educational leadership from Concordia University and his bachelor’s in elementary education from Concordia College. He began his career in education as an elementary school teacher teaching students English overseas.
Stephens was, until recently, the district coordinator of online learning for kindergarten through 12th grade at the Irvine Unified School District. Stephens was a curriculum leader for secondary content areas for IUSD Virtual Academy, which served over 13,000 elementary and secondary students and 500 teachers.
Stephens began her career as a third-grade teacher in mathematics but has held different positions in elementary, high school and higher education. She received her doctorate in educational leadership from Cal State Fullerton. Her master’s in educational leadership and bachelor’s in business administration were from Cal Poly Pomona, and Stephens hold several credentials.
“Her wealth of knowledge, varied experience and leadership in virtual instruction make Dr. Stephens’ a perfect fit to lead our virtual school, Cloud Campus,” said Kerrie Torres, assistant superintendent of secondary education, in a statement.
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