Tavella will serve as interim principal at Willow Glen Middle School beginning in January. He replaces Darla Briggs, who resigned in November to take a job as the principal of a middle school in Lodi.

While Tavella has some experience at the middle school level, having served as a summer school principal on various campuses, he's spent the bulk of his 30-year career with the San Jose Unified School District as a teacher and administrator. He taught PE and social studies at the middle school level, and at the beginning of his career he taught math and science at Willow Glen High School. For the last four years, he's been Leland's assistant principal in charge of discipline.

While he's enjoyed working with high school students, he thinks middle school students will be an exciting challenge.

"Middle school is a different place," he said. "Middle school students are still very vivacious. I think I'll enjoy going back to that level. I have a lot of learning to do in what they're passionate about."

If all goes well, Tavella said, he'd like the job at the Willow Glen campus—which is just a mile away from his home—to become permanent.

Tavella said the current administration has left the middle school in good shape for him. Under Darla Briggs, he noted, test scores have risen, the campus has been beautified and the PTA has gained strength.

"It's a middle school that years ago was struggling," Tavella added. "The present principal there has done a lot of good things. I'll try to continue that trend."

In a strange coincidence, Tavella's replacement at Leland High School is Bruce Briggs, the husband of outgoing Willow Glen Middle School principal Darla.

Bruce said the switch makes sense from the district's perspective, selecting him to replace Tavella because of his three years of administrative discipline experience and because the district knew he wanted to work with high school students.

"I halfway expected it," said Bruce, who served as assistant principal of discipline at Willow Glen High School for two years and then as a counselor at Burnett Middle School for five months before being transferred to Leland.

As his new role model, Tavella has turned to Leland principal Susan Votaw. "When Susan moved to this school, I followed her," he said. "Susan is my mentor. She's been my coach. She's given everything to me about how to deal with kids and find a way for them to be a success."

Even with Votaw's coaching behind him, Tavella has some trepidation about his impending move to Willow Glen. "Being the principal, where the buck stops, will be a challenge," he said. "Here [at Leland], the principal is insulated by us, but eventually she has to make decisions about complex issues. I'll be that person now."

And no matter what those complex issues might be, Tavella said it's still important to treat students with respect. "Kids make mistakes; they make bad decisions," Tavella said. "You have to discipline them and give them consequences, but in a respectful way. I try to deal with them as if their parents were sitting in the office with me."

And changing job situations is difficult because he has developed relationships with teachers and students at Leland.

"Going somewhere new makes you anxious. You learn how to do your job while you're doing it. But I'm ready to do it," he noted.

Staff writer Beth Walker contributed to this story.