Who knew the very busy Culver City Exchange Club, fresh off its fireworks winner last week, had branched into education?
When Jon Pearson, the popular principal of the Middle School for the last six years, accepted a promotion last month to the Torrance Unified School District, the South Bay not only tooketh but gaveth backeth.
Linsey S. Gotanda, assistant principal of Adams Middle School, Redondo Beach, has been hired as the new chief administrator of the Culver City Middle School.
At Adams, Ms. Gotanda supervised and evaluated a 60 teachers and classified workers. Her job included hiring of employees and staff management.
At Adams, she implemented innovative, student-centered programs, with an emphasis on early college education and school culture, including the Six-Year Plan project, parent presentations, college quarterly newsletter, managed and trained counselors on Naviance throughout the Redondo Beach Unified School District, diversity retreats, anti-bullying assemblies and positive behavior intervention and supports.
A Torrance resident, Ms. Gotanda has wide experience as an administrator, teacher and counselor, including as a school counselor at Redondo Union High School, as a lecturer in multicultural counseling at Loyola Marymount University and social studies teacher at North High, Torrance.
Ms. Gotanda earned her bachelor’s at U.C. Irvine, her master’s from both Concordia University and Loyola Marymount, and her doctorate in education from UCLA.