Willow Glen Resident

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Photograph by Brian Connelly

A Little Help: Presentation High School principal Mary Miller (left) and Darlene Burke, mother of alumna 1st Lt. Kari (Burke) Haravitch, assembled 140 care packages collected by Presentation students for Haravitch and her troops serving overseas in Afghanistan.

Groves' tenure helped resurrect district

Cambrian schools are thriving, in demand

By Alicia Upano

Cambrian School District Superintendent Barry Groves is personable, approachable and funny. He's the kind of boss who sends each of his 200-plus employees birthday cards, and the kind of educator who visits each classroom in the 3,100-student district every few weeks.

In the community, he's the man with the whipped cream at the ice cream social, and the one working the phone banks to promote a Cambrian initiative. To his colleagues, he's a visionary whose mix of innovation and fiscal responsibility has helped Cambrian navigate the troubled waters of public education. Under his tenure the district is thriving, while many others struggle to operate at top standards with minimal funding.

Staff turnover is low, student achievement is high, and those who have worked with Groves know he would push to make it better if he weren't leaving.

Groves will replace Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District retiring superintendent Richard Fischer. His new job begins July 1, exactly 14 years after he was hired as the Cambrian superintendent.

However, Groves says his desire to be an educator began long before that.

A Petaluma native, Groves often helped his mother, Gerry, set up her third-grade classroom before school began. He also grew up under the influence of two uncles, who were principals.

He attended the University of California-Santa Barbara with an athletic scholarship in track. He went on to receive his bachelor's degree in American studies in 1976 and a master's degree in education and a teaching credential in 1978. He then moved to Ukiah to teach middle and high school English, social studies and journalism.

"I was an intellectually curious young man," Groves says. "I knew I wanted to do more."

Groves was interested in becoming an administrator. He received a scholarship to Stanford University, completing his master's and doctorate degrees in school administration and policy analysis in 1984.

During the next few years, Groves worked his way up. He began as an assistant principal at Crittenden Middle School in Mountain View, then became principal at Sunnyvale Middle School and in 1989 accepted a position as assistant superintendent in the Lucia Mar Unified School district in Arroyo Grande in San Luis Obispo County.

In 1992, however, the superintendent opening in Cambrian School District gave Groves and his family an opportunity to return to the Bay Area, and he jumped at the chance.

But the district was not in glorious shape. As a result of economic downturn, school programs were cut, and families were leaving the area. The district was down to 2,200 students.

Cambrian's test-score rankings were also low, falling below its neighbors, including the Campbell Union, Moreland, Union and Luther Burbank school districts.

"As a boss, he's been inspiring," Bagby Elementary School Principal Kathy Kimpel says. "He's very encouraging to get us to the next level. He never makes it seem impossible."

Kimpel says Groves has been able to surmount the seemingly impossible by seeing problems before they happen. Believing another economic downturn could be a problem for public education, Groves devised ways to get money independent of the state to help run Cambrian. He turned to local technology companies for donations, received grants and founded the Cambrian Education Foundation, which raises $150,000 annually.

On an academic level, all five district schools were named California Distinguished Schools. The community approved a parcel tax that helped keep arts, music and physical education programs and small class sizes in 2001.

The district's test scores have completely turned around and are now some of the highest in the South Bay.

Fammatre Elementary School Principal Midge Jambor credits these successes to the district being community-oriented and the surrounding neighborhoods maintaining a small-town feel. Generations of families pass through the halls of these schools, she says.

"Families are our No. 1 priority," Jambor says. "The community is small enough that we can collectively feel responsible for each other."

The community renewed the $2.1 million parcel tax in 2004 and also voted in the district's first facilities bond in 40 years in 2002, worth $21 million, to modernize the schools.

While the schools are doing comparatively well, they do manage with less custodial staff, and retirees have not been replaced.

Beginning in 2002, Groves led the district into a new venture--converting four of its schools into charter schools. By becoming charters, the schools could control the area's declining enrollment problem. Many families were forced out of the area by economic problems, resulting in a loss of state funding for districts.

Several out-of-district students wanted to attend Cambrian schools but were denied entry by their home districts. However, students are free to attend charters regardless of school boundaries. At Ida Price Middle School, 20 percent of the students are from outside the district, and the school maintains a waiting list. In the last year, enrollment jumped 5 percent districtwide.

These strides are the result of goals Groves set for the district, Jambor says.

"He's not a complacent leader; he's always looking at where we are, and how we can move forward. He expects 200 percent, but he gives 400 percent."

Jambor hopes the next superintendent will be just as well versed in the community and will continue to be innovative. The Cambrian board of trustees is still seeking a replacement. Assistant superintendent of student services Jan McAlister will be acting superintendent during the interim.

For Groves, moving to Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District is the next challenge. He says he'll miss the people most--friends he's made, and the unconditional support of the elementary and middle school students.

"It's really been very good," Groves says. "A test of a superintendent or a leader is whether you can leave behind a self-sustaining district, and I hope that we have built a school district that will continue to do well."