Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Lorrie Wernick is the new principal of C.T. English Middle School in the Loma Prieta Joint Union School District.

Wernick says she can ease transition for mountain kids

By Michelle Alaimo

Nestled in the mountains on the outskirts of Los Gatos is a small middle school with a new principal who is well versed in the unique problems and features of living in a mountain community.

Lorrie Wernick, C.T.English Middle School's new principal as of July 1, has lived in the mountains for more than 20 years and understands perfectly how a mountain school can become the central point of the community. Wernick, who has three children, two of whom attend Los Gatos High School, also knows that kids from mountain schools need a little more time adjusting to life at big schools.

Lee Tinder, superintendent of the Loma Prieta Joint Union School District, says these are just some of the reasons why Wernick was the perfect choice for principal of C.T. English Middle School.

"Lorrie always accepts a challenge and always tries to find a way to make things work," Tinder says.

One challenge Wernick faces is finding classroom space for the 192 students who attend her school. Even though the school has 16 classrooms, only 12 are usable because the other four were declared unsafe for instruction after the October 1989 earthquake.

"We've learned to use space efficiently and to get along as a family," Wernick says. Her large office now doubles as a conference room and principal's office. The former conference room is now used as a special-education resource room. Teachers have also helped with class space by sharing the mostly portable rooms .

Even though the school has few classrooms, those available are in good shape and allow plenty of room for the classes of 20 to 30 students to spread out comfortably as they learn.

The mountain school faces other circumstances that most schools don't face, such as bad weather forcing the school to close. More than 70 percent of the students are bused when roads are closed, and if the power goes out for more than two hours, school must close.

Tinder said the district also has an evacuation plan in the event that bad weather forces school to close during the day and buses can't get all the kids home. Thankfully, he says, they have not had to use the evacuation plan since it was conceived in the early '90s.

While Wernick, who replaces Art Bubb as principal, helps influence class curricula based on information she has learned as a board member of the Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District, she says being on the board is not a conflict of interest because it's a different governing board. On the contrary, Tinder says, Wernick's being on the high school board creates a perfect bridge between the two schools. "It's a real plus because she understands where students need to be when they leave here," Tinder says.

Almost all C.T. English students go on to Los Gatos High School. Wernick says the school works hard to prepare students for the vigorous program they will face at LGHS and to ease the transition from a small mountain school to a large city school. This includes offering hot lunches from a 100-percent volunteer-run snack shack, even though the school has no cafeteria. Wernick adds that the school is also adding a wrestling program so that those who want to join the high school wrestling program will be ready when they get there.

An art lover who has been in education since 1972, Wernick worked in various administration positions before coming to C.T. English Middle School. She has also served as a resource specialist for Lakeside Elementary School. Wernick looks forward to serving as principal of a community she knows so well. "I feel really happy to have this job," Wernick says. "It matches my background."

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