The Mountain View Los Altos High School District Board of Trustees approved the hiring of two new leaders May 2: Kip Glazer, Ed.D., as principal of Mountain View High and Suzanne Woolfolk as principal and director of alternative programs at Alta Vista.
Glazer and Woolfolk replace the retiring Mike Jimenez and Bill Pierce, respectively, and will take the reins at their new schools July 1.
Immersive, holistic approach
Glazer, who currently serves as principal of San Marcos High in Santa Barbara, has held many teaching and administrative roles at schools around Southern California in her nearly 20 years an educator. In the coming months, Glazer will make her way to Mountain View from Santa Barbara, the first U.S. city she lived in after moving from Seoul, South Korea, at 23 years old.
Glazer began her career as a social studies and English language development teacher in Santa Maria with no plans to become an administrator, until the late William Sandoval – principal at her school and career mentor – convinced her to consider pursuing a leadership position, telling her that she was “too bossy not to be a boss.”
She didn’t take his advice right away, opting to wait until her own kids graduated from high school and instead pursing a doctorate in education. After earning her doctorate in learning technologies from Pepperdine University in 2015 and winning the county teacher of the year award, Glazer followed Sandoval’s advice.
As Glazer advanced through administrative ranks at various Southern California schools, she adopted a hands-on, caring method of school leadership, like her mentor. She sees herself as a mother figure to her student body, dedicating herself to the needs of her students and faithfully attending as many student events as she can, including every football game of the season.
“I am out in the quad all of the time, and one of the best compliments I ever received was when a young lady said something to a teacher, who started laughing and she said, ‘You have got to tell Dr. Glazer what you just told me,’” Glazer recounted. “And she said, ‘I never knew you had an office, because you’re always outside with us.’”
Although she said leaving her current school is bittersweet, Glazer aims to bring her same method of leadership to Mountain View High next year. She plans to meet with “every single staff member, from the administrators to the food service workers.”
“It’s super important that everybody on campus know that they can come and talk to me and that we all share the concern to take care of the future generation of learners,” she said. “It’s a big job, so nobody can do it alone.”
Beyond getting to know the community in her first few months, Glazer has a long-term focus on providing wellness support for students and promoting a holistic approach to education.
“I believe that the purpose of public education is to create an educated populace for the protection of democracy,” she said. “And I believe that in order for us to do that, we have to really think about the changes in society and technology that are being thrown at us, and still hold that value of school being the heart of a community.”
Skills and passion to serve
Woolfolk has held various administrative positions in education over the past 15 years, including eight years in her current job as assistant principal at Los Altos High. She expressed excitement at taking on a leadership role at Alta Vista, one that enables her to interact more closely with students.
“To work really in-depth with families and students can be something that is rare in principalship,” Woolfolk said. “And that was a huge reason why I was interested in this role in serving the district: because I will get to be in students’ lives and work with them and their families individually.”
Woolfolk earned undergraduate and graduate degrees at Stanford University and began her career teaching Spanish and English language development at Hillsdale High School in San Mateo. Being a part of a teacher leadership pool, she said, allowed her to consider other avenues in education beyond teaching. However, she still spends time in the classroom teaching the student government class at Los Altos High.
When considering her next move, Woolfolk said her decision to apply for Alta Vista principal was driven not as much by a desire to advance her career as by considering where she could best serve the district.
“I thought to myself, ‘Where is the need?’” she said. “And I really felt like this was a position that I held the skills and the passion for.”
As someone who attended a high school with only a 50% graduation rate, Woolfolk said she deeply wishes her district had alternative education options like MVLA’s Alta Vista, Freestyle Academy of Communication Arts & Technology and Foothill Middle College. Although she has gone on to have a successful career in education, she recognizes the impact access to such programs could have made in her and her peers’ lives.
Woolfolk recognized the accomplishments of her predecessor, Pierce, who has served as Alta Vista principal for 25 years, and hopes to build on the foundation he and the staff have laid. In the short term, her goal is to establish relationships with staff, students and families, and her long-range plans include creating more opportunities for students to get involved in extracurricular activities, student advocacy and leadership.
She also wants to take a more active role in supporting students as they decide what is best for their future – helping them understand their choices when determining whether or not they should continue at Alta Vista through graduation and then figuring out their next moves after graduation.
