De Anza High School Mission Statement

Principal's Message

Dear Community Members, September 17, 2007

My name is Kenneth (Ken) Gardner, I have recently been appointed as the Principal of De Anza Senior High School. I am deeply honored to be here and will do my best to uphold the proud heritage and traditions of De Anza.

Before I discuss my core beliefs allow me to tell you about myself. I have been an administrator for the last four school years, I have held the following positions in administration; vice principal, principal and district welfare and attendance officer. I truly enjoy being an administrator and the daily challenges it brings. I thrive on the interaction with co-workers, students and the community and look forward to each day.
I have also taught all levels of secondary Reading and Language Arts from 7th Grade to 12th Grade. I retired from law enforcement in 1999 and retired from the United States Air Force Reserve in 2000 where I served as both an NCO and Commissioned Officer.

I believe that all students can learn, are willing to learn and will learn depending on their levels of motivation and their engagement in the educational process. That being said, it is up to us the professional educators, parents, staff, and community members to find “whatever works” and do “whatever it takes” to educate our students and to prepare them for the world ahead.

I believe that all instruction should be standards based, research proven and data driven. In keeping with that we will be using a variety of resources to analyze our data at De Anza to better formulate and provide quality instruction for our students and to increase student achievement.

Our main task this year will be the accomplishment of a successful WASC visit, which should be scheduled for spring. I will be asking for your assistance and support as we move DAHS forward to that end.

I would also like to take this opportunity to introduce our two new Assistant Principals, Yolanda Bulls and LaDonna Williams. Yolanda comes from Richmond High School where she was a science teacher. LaDonna comes to us from Oakland High School where she was a Reading Language Arts teacher and heavily involved in the ELD program.

Sincerely,


Kenneth Gardner
Principal