Santa Monica High School principal Eva Mayoral tendered her resignation with SMMUSD yesterday, effective June 30, 2016.
She will be moving out of state to spend more time with family, including a cherished granddaughter.
In a message sent to Samohi parents Mayoral shared the physical and emotional pain she feels in saying goodbye.
This email is on behalf of Eva Mayoral, Samohi Principal
Dear Samohi Family,
It is with great physical and emotional pain that I write you to say goodbye. Over the past 20 years, through multiple positions, and ever escalating intensity, I have loved Samohi. I can tell you unequivocally that I have never been fonder of any group of students, parents or staff. It is this love that has made my life joyful, and this decision excruciating. But you are not my only love. My son and his family, all of whom I adore, have reached out in need, and as unfathomable as it is to leave you, I just don’t have it in me to say no.
Students, please know that the Samohi of your tomorrow will be GREAT! Over the past 3 years we have laid the bedrock foundation of several powerful ways of working and
thinking: Teachers are working together in Professional Learning Communities to better inspire, engage and support you; Restorative practices are taking root across our campus, as together our school strives to pull our full community closer together, by recognizing the value of listening with intention, valuing, honoring, and supporting expressed needs, and working to bring our best selves together (even after conflict); Our AP course numbers (and successes) across ALL under- represented groups have risen significantly, with Samohi enjoying an unprecedented 37.7% decrease in our opportunity gap in just 2 years; Samohi was accredited as a California Democracy School, and across all freshmen seminar classes next year EVERY student will participate not only in the civic action inquiry process, but in a Get Focused; Stay Focused (10 year plan) curriculum designed to enhance high school support that has historically and nationally been about making college the target, and alter it to make career the target. This will involve working with students to discover their passions and strengths, and then using these to hone in on viable careers that will excite them. THEN helping them to determine the best suited college or program to support acquisition of this goal, and lastly, what they need to do now to be a viable and competitive candidate for that program. In short, more students will come to see school as something being done for them, instead of to them 🙂 .
In all subsequent years, through every English class our students take, follow up work, continued exploration, and strategic and timely embedded college application support work, will support all our students through to their successful launch into post-secondary education.
So, as much as I will miss you, and as much as I am crying, life will be great at Samohi!
I believe to my core in all these programs! How do I know they will thrive and survive? Because my philosophy has always been to never work alone. I have worked hard and long to be sure that we had a critical mass of supporters within everything we have done. We have a huge number of brilliant and committed teachers and administrators who will carry on and care for this work.
Several inspired and inspiring teachers are deeply entrenched in strong leadership roles in ALL this work. They have co-developed systems, long-range planned, and worked out strategic implementation along with me. You are in great hands Samohi, because you are in many hands!
Please know that I will always love you from afar, and will be cheering on Samohi every step of the way!!! Being a part of our Samohi Family has meant everything to me, and it will ALWAYS be how I think of you.
With great fondness, Eva Mayoral
