New Laguna Beach High principal believes in Common Core, common cause

For Christopher Herzfeld, a healthy school is clothed in interdependence.

“Teaching and education is more of a covenant than a contract,” said Herzfeld, 51, who is settling into his new job as principal at Laguna Beach High School. “It’s about mutual commitments. We are raising kids, building citizens, building a workforce. We have to be intertwined in that effort.”

Herzfeld takes pride in seeing staff members and students supporting one another to create a vibrant, engaging community.

Herzfeld, who lives in Laguna and has a 4-year-old daughter who will be starting at El Morro Elementary next year, spent the past 10 years as principal at Fountain Valley High School and started his career in education in 1987 as a social-studies teacher at Sierra High in Colorado Springs, Colo., according to a biography on the Laguna Beach High website.

Last summer, when then-Laguna Beach High Principal Joanne Culverhouse announced she was leaving, Herzfeld received a friendly suggestion from neighbors that he should apply for the position.

He took their advice and emerged as the top candidate to replace Culverhouse, who spent 15 years in the Laguna Beach Unified School District, the last three at the high school.

Herzfeld’s first day at Laguna Beach High was Oct. 13.

A prime talking point in educational circles these days is Common Core State Standards, a new set of standardized tests that place a greater emphasis on critical thinking and interpretation, even in mathematics and science. The tests have detractors, but Herzfeld is not one of them.

Common Core presents a breakthrough in education, Herzfeld said, allowing students and teachers to delve deeper into subjects.

Instead of sticking to rote memorization and only following a series of steps, students will have to ask more questions as they solve problems, Herzfeld said.

He gave an example from science: identifying an acid or a base.

“Now students must ask themselves, ‘How do I discover whether [a material] is an acid or a base?’” Herzfeld said. “Students will have to do the research and consult with each other and the teacher. It leads to deeper thinking.”

Herzfeld acknowledged that steps in an experiment are foundational and that getting the right answer is critical. Equally important, though, is the thought process that went into getting the answer, he said.

Laguna Beach High is implementing that idea with instructor Steve Sogo’s advanced chemical research class, Herzfeld said.

Sogo’s current crop of students designed a water purification system that runs on solar energy. The class will spend the year building the purifier, and eventually it will be used in a Kenyan village to provide residents with clean water.

“Instead of classroom experiments, they are turning knowledge into global efforts,” Herzfeld said.

But along with classroom successes may come the unsavory issues that can distract from education, and that is what happened in early September, when Herzfeld was dealing with a bomb threat while at Fountain Valley High.

An email from a student’s account threatened violence with explosives and warned that someone would enter campus with an assault rifle to kill any survivors.

Herzfeld received a text message from technology employees at 5:15 a.m. Sept. 3 and called police. The first thing Herzfeld wanted to verify was whether the student attended the school.

Police closed the school by 6:30 a.m., before students arrived, and walked with police dogs at Fountain Valley High and a neighboring continuation school. They did not find explosives, and classes were canceled for the day.

Authorities at the time suspected a hacker accessed the student’s email account.

“The first thing is deciding what action to take and after that let the police handle it,” Herzfeld said. “Then I was into communication and support [informing parents, school staff and teachers of the situation].

“Fortunately our webmaster checked his email at 5:15 a.m. and all decisions were made before students were at school.”

Now at Laguna Beach High, Herzfeld is acclimating to the school’s day-to-day life.

“I’m having fun, getting to know the culture of the school,” Herzfeld said. “I’m excited to build on what is already here.”

Herzfeld’s resume — which includes three assistant principal positions — and the fact that he has lived in Laguna for 12 years were key selling points for school board Trustee William Landsiedel.

“[Herzfeld] has lots of experience at the high school level, which I’m happy with,” Landsiedel said. “He also has a 4-year-old daughter, so he’s invested in the school system.”