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San Ramon’s Neil Armstrong Elementary School will have a new top administrator to lead faculty and staff for the next school year.
The San Ramon Valley Unified School District Board of Education announced at last week’s school board meeting that effective July 1, Jared Gagnon will be taking over as principal of Neil Armstrong Elementary. He will replace soon-to-be former principal Lorna Monteith, who announced she will be retiring at the end of this school year.
“I am most excited about meeting the student body at Neil Armstrong Elementary School. Students (there) have a passion and energy that is unmatched and I cannot wait to support them in their love for learning,” Gagnon said.
“Mr. Gagnon has consistently demonstrated excellence in all his roles within the district. I am fully confident that he will be a great new leader for your school,” Superintendent Rick Schmitt said in an email to parents. “Mr. Gagnon brings with him a wide-range of experiences, including serving as an administrator in elementary, middle and high school programs.”
Currently Gagnon serves as an assistant principal at Dougherty Valley High School and will be the principal of summer school at Quail Run Elementary, both located in San Ramon.
“I am honored to have been selected as the new Principal of Neil Armstrong Elementary School. I have had a few opportunities to work with some of the amazing teachers that call Neil Armstrong home and I’m sincerely looking forward to working with their whole staff in the years to come,” Gagnon said.
Gagnon first joined SRVUSD in 2008 as a teacher at Gale Ranch Middle School, after having taught for a year at Cesar Chavez Junior High School in Hayward. In 2013, he shifted into his first administrative role serving as an assistant principal at Pine Valley Middle School, where he would stay for the next four years. Gagnon also served as principal of summer school at Montair Elementary last summer.
According to Superintendent Schmitt, throughout his career Gagnon has been very involved with a number of initiatives and programs to support students including: Response to Intervention, the adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards, math curriculum, equity and culturally and linguistically responsive teaching and learning.
Gagnon earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in kinesiology from Saint Mary’s College in Moraga, and holds a Master of Science degree from California State University, East Bay.
Gagnon says he is excited to be stepping into the position as the school’s top administrator and is looking forward to working with the school’s passionate parent community.
“I am looking forward to working with an involved parent community who support both the school and their children in so many incredible ways and have no doubt that we will be able to build a strong partnership as we work in concert towards student success,” he said.
Principal Monteith and the PTA will host an informal meeting Tuesday from 8:15 to 9 p.m. for parents and community members to meet their future principal. “Not formal in any respect. It is just a quick hello and welcome for Jared Gagnon. I hope you (all) can drop by for a quick minute,” Monteith said on Twitter.
The Gagnon family is very involved in the district. Readers may recognize the name from the district’s Teacher of the Year recipient and county finalist California High School’s Shanna Gagnon, who is Jared’s sister-in-law.
“Our whole family is so proud of her and all she has accomplished,” he said.
