Las Lomas Will Say Goodbye to Mr. Campbell Next Year
Danielle Fidelibus
Principal Matt Campbell talks with juniors Eric Leblanc and Vince Bazzone at Lunch.
In his seven years at Las Lomas, Principal Matt Campbell has marked many milestones, but perhaps his most famous was made possible by a student photographer.
Gabriel Newman, who graduated in 2015, was taking picture of the senior prank, for which his classmates decided to jump into the pool.
“I noticed an uproar from the pool urging Campbell to jump into the pool, fired off a couple of frames as quickly as I could,” said Newman.
Gabriel Newman
Campbell's infamous leap into the pool turned him into an internet sensation.
He posted it, along with lots more from the event, to a Facebook album, and one of his classmates posted it to Imgur. From there, Campbell’s image went viral.
“I don’t think I knew that the photo would become as popular as it did,” he said.
Last Wednesday, Campbell announced that he will leave Las Lomas at the end of the year for a job in the Fremont Unified School District.
“It was my first principal job and it was amazing,” Campbell said. “It was really refreshing. I’ve spent my whole life in Pleasanton, so coming to Walnut Creek was such a great experience and it continues to be a great experience for me.
Many students will miss the relationships they had with Campbell.
“I think he made a lasting impact on the school,” said junior Emma Thomson. “I know my mom really liked him. She’s an educator herself and she really liked the way he tried to approach Common Core and block schedule through his connection with the parents. She really appreciated that.”
Staff members appreciate Campbell’s dedication to students.
“Mr. Campbell is very student centered,” said associate principal Amy Geotina. “In any conversation I’ve had with him, it always comes back to what is best for the student—you know, where is the most benefit for the student?—and sometimes that’s a difficult conversation because there’s a lot of outside sources, but he will always keep the conversation coming back to what’s best for students, and I think that is a very positive attribute of his.”
Associate principal Amanda Renno agreed. “He brought just a true love for students and for a desire for all students to be successful,” she said.
Geotina was thankful for Campbell’s help in moving her up from teaching biology.
“A little known trivia fact is that I was Mr. Campbell’s first hire at the school,” she said. “He’s been very supportive of me and in my transitions, so it’s been a pleasure working with Mr. Campbell.”
Administrative assistant Yvonne Richmond. has worked closely with Campbell over the years.
“I’ve really enjoyed working with Matt,” she said. “He’s easy-going, positive and personable which has made working for him a great experience. I will definitely miss him and our working relationship.”
Richmond appreciates the hard work Mr. Campbell has put into Las Lomas. “Mr. Campbell faced many challenges when he accepted the principal position at LL. Not only was he facing the regular challenges associated with education, such as state and federal mandates, tech growth in education, growing student population, and diversity issues, but he was also following in the footsteps of a 17-year principal who had hired most of the staff that Mr. Campbell would now have to supervise. It’s tough to follow that and keep unity among staff, students and parents,” said Richmond.
The district is now searching for a replacement, which it hopes to find by the end of next month. In the meantime, district administrators have been talking to students, parents, and staff about what they want to see in their new principal.
“We are about to go through a lot of change with the switch to block schedule, so I think it’s going to have to be someone that’s skilled at leading the staff and students through significant changes,” said Renno.
Social studies department chair China Harvey said that she is happy for Campbell, but, she said, “I think it’s going to be a huge loss for the Las Lomas community. I think Campbell came in every single day to work with the best of intentions. He only wants to do what’s best for the students and the staff here, and I hope that we can find somebody with those same intentions.”
Students know that it will be hard to replace him. “He did a lot of work at this school and it will be hard to fill his shoes,” said sophomore Maggie McGlynn.
At his new job, Mr. Campbell will be in charge of anything student related. “It’s a large school district, there’s around 35,000 students in the district. I’m in charge of attendance, truancy, school boundaries, suspensions and expulsions, anything kind of student related,” said Campbell. His new job will be very different from his current job. “It’s going to be a lot different. I think that the rhythms of the job will be different. I’ll be at the District Office and I’ll have a small staff that I will supervise. I just won’t have access to students. That’s going to be the main difference,” said Campbell.
The commute from Walnut Creek to Fremont could take a toll on Mr. Campbell but he isn’t letting that stop him. “The commute will be an opportunity to listen to lots of books on tape,” said Campbell.
