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Donlon Elementary School will start the school year with a new principal after Janet Gates, the Pleasanton school’s former longtime principal, accepted a higher administrative job at the district office.
Gates is being replaced by Kristina Brown, the vice principal at Walnut Grove Elementary School for the last two years. Brown has already started in her new role and is set to be formally appointed to the position during the regular school board meeting next Thursday (Aug. 8).
“I am truly honored to join this community and work alongside a team of wonderful staff, students and families that have such a long-standing tradition of excellence,” Brown told the Pleasanton Weekly. “I am excited to support and continue the incredible work already taking place at Donlon to ensure students have the academic and social-emotional skills that are essential for their success in elementary school and beyond.”
Brown had previously served as the vice principal at Walnut Grove since 2022. Before that, she was the vice principal at the Manteca Unified School District for a couple of years.
In Manteca, she also worked as a program coordinator who provided professional development for teachers, conducted data analysis to address student needs and developed curriculum design and instructional programs, according to PUSD.
She had also worked as an elementary school teacher in Manteca, and she holds a doctorate in educational leadership and a masters degree in elementary curriculum and instruction.
Patrick Gannon, Pleasanton Unified School District’s director of communications, told the Weekly that the Donlon principal position was posted on EDJOIN, a job site for educators, and that Brown was interviewed and chosen as the finalist before officially getting the position.
“We are thrilled to have Dr. Kristina Brown step into the leadership role as principal for our Donlon community,” Interim Superintendent Maurice Ghysels said in a statement to the Donlon community earlier in July.
Brown said that her goal as the new Donlon principal is to “provide the best educational opportunities for our students and to provide the support necessary for them to be and feel successful.”
“In order to accomplish this, we must work collaboratively for continuous improvement of our learning community,” she said.
Brown will be stepping in as the school’s new leader after Gates decided to pursue the director of student services position at PUSD following a seven-year run as principal at Donlon.
Gates started the administrative role three weeks ago after Leslie Heller, who previously held the director position, moved to the Fremont Unified School District to serve as the director of secondary education.
According to Heller’s LinkedIn, she left PUSD this month after 25 years in the district. She had previously served as a teacher, principal, coordinator and most recently as the director of student services.
Gannon said Heller “resigned on her own accord.”
“We appreciate all she’s done for PUSD and wish her well in her next chapter,” Gannon added.
Heller has not responded to requests for comments as of time of publication.
While Gates said the she loved Donlon for the students, community and all that they have taught her, once she saw that the director position opened up she knew she had to pursue the director role — even if it meant having to make the hard decision to leave Donlon.
She said given her extensive background in various fields, and the fact that most of her family members were educators in administrative positions, she almost felt it was her duty to move up into the director role.
“I just felt like it was time for me to try something new,” Gates said. “It was exciting thinking about moving up in this field.”
She said her goals and aspirations as the new director of student services is to support students and families as much as she can by finding new funding sources such as grants to help out the community as the district struggles with budget challenges.
“That’s my aspiration, that every child who goes through Pleasanton and graduates from Pleasanton schools has whatever it is they need to access their learning,” Gates said.
But as Gates get settled in her new director position, she did get a little emotional thinking about her Donlon family and while she knows Brown will do a great job as the school’s new leader, she still wanted to thank the Donlon community for opening its arms to her and being a part of her life.
“Once a Cub, always a Cub,” Gates said. “I have not given up all of my blue shirts yet.”
“A couple of years?” Christian, please get more exact information from Mr. Gannon or the woman herself as this reads as sloppy reporting.