District’s new administrator has big plans

Jessica Garrison

NEWPORT-MESA -- Jaime Castellanos is so excited about heading up

the district’s secondary education department, he’s willing to drive more

than 150 miles every day just to get to and from work.

To do this, the district’s new assistant superintendent for secondary

education leaves his Ventura residence before 5 each morning, and returns

in the evening, after the traffic has lightened up.

Sometimes, if he’s done with his work, he’ll play a round of golf

before hopping back on the freeway.

Supt. Robert Barbot and school board president Serene Stokes said such

dedication is par for the course for Castellanos, who was a high school

principal in Ventura before taking the district’s top high school job.

“I think we were so lucky to get him,” Stokes said. “His talents for

working with people and his ability to see potential for programs are

just what we need.”

Castellanos is responsible for the day-to-day operations at all the

district’s high schools and middle schools. Principals answer to him, and

he has ultimate authority to settle problems and make sure students are

learning in a safe and stimulating environment.

Last week, for example, he visited all four high schools and met with

the PTAs and foundations. He also has met with war veterans to discuss

having them as guest speakers in district schools.

“I do a lot of facilitating,” he said, which includes putting the

right people in touch with the right group or helping them find out about

the right funding for the right program.

Castellanos also has set for himself the task of charting the

secondary schools’ courses as they adapt to the tremendous technological

and demographic changes that have swept through education in the last 10

years.

His top priorities, he said, are increasing technology in the

classroom, adapting to the district’s tremendous diversity, and finding

ways to integrate curriculum.

“More and more technology is coming into our society, it needs to be

an instructional tool in the classroom,” he said. “If we don’t do that,

then we’re not preparing kids for life when they leave the classroom.”

Castellanos, who is Latino but says he does not “make a big issue of

being Hispanic,” also said he wanted schools to do a better job of

addressing issues of diversity -- both in the curriculum and among

students, staff and parents.

“We cannot keep working the way we’ve been working ... with all the

ethnic groups and diverse groups we have in our schools,” he said.

He also wants teachers from different academic departments to work

more closely with each other to integrate curriculum.

“I’m a real firm believer in that,” he said. “U.S. history and

American literature. Teach ‘em together.”

Other perennial issues, said Castellanos, include staffing, students’

literacy, and addressing inevitable crises as they arise.

“There’s always room for improvement at all schools,” he said, noting

that he would like to see reading scores rise at Estancia and TeWinkle.

Castellanos said he still is trying to learn about all the

complexities of Newport-Mesa, which he said is different in culture and

outlook from the Ventura County high school he left behind.

“I’m just looking, listening and learning,” he said.