Janet Gates grew up around teachers.
Born in Oklahoma and raised in Hayward and Castro Valley, Gates’ mother worked as a school nurse for Hayward Unified and her father as a science professor at then-Cal State Hayward. Her paternal grandmother was an elementary school teacher and her maternal grandfather a principal and superintendent.
So it may come as no surprise that Gates embraced working with kids from a young age.
“I had two younger brothers and we would play school,” the new Donlon Elementary School principal recalled in a recent interview. “I was a babysitter and I taught swim lessons and I did tutoring, so I always liked the act of teaching — I found it fun.”
Although Gates toyed with the idea of going into other professions like dentistry, ultimately “teaching felt comfortable.”
“I keep coming back to this, so I feel like it’s kind of a calling,” Gates said.
Thirty years after her first teaching job, Gates in June got her first principal position when the school board selected her to lead Donlon.
Gates, 52, who most recently worked as a vice principal at Lydiksen Elementary for three years, replaced Sebastian Bull after he was appointed principal of Foothill High. She is Donlon’s seventh principal since 2009.
“It gives me a little bit of a mission that I really do need to work on relationship-building,” Gates said of the turnover. “It’s got to be hard when you have somebody new all the time.”
“My mission, too is to make it feel like home for me and for everybody,” she added.
Gates attended UC Davis after high school, earning a bachelor’s degree in biology while also minoring in Spanish and education. She also received her teaching credential there.
Right out of college in 1987 Gates taught science at a high school in Hollister. Then she got married and moved to Southern California, spending nine months there working at a law firm.
“I thought I was going to go into law because I really liked educational law,” she said.
But then Gates and her husband moved back to Northern California, where she signed up to work as a substitute teacher for San Jose Unified to make money while studying for the LSAT.
Instead of giving her a sub job, however Gates was offered a teaching position at San Jose High Academy. There she taught biology and leadership until March 1993, when she took a leave from teaching for the birth of her first daughter.
Gates returned to teaching in 2004. By then a seven-year Pleasanton resident with three daughters, she again was looking for a substitute teaching position.
But a meeting with then-Harvest Park principal Jim Hansen — “a good salesman,” Gates said — changed her mind.
“I was just going to sub, but they found out I have a science credential,” she said.
So Gates taught science at Harvest Park, also taking time to earn a master’s degree in teaching leadership from St. Mary’s College and her preliminary administrative credential.
She first tried out working as an administrator soon after, volunteering as a vice principal for summer school in 2014.
“I really liked it, so I thought ‘OK I’ll look when something’s open,'” Gates said.
That summer a vice principal position opened up that was part-time at Hearst and part-time at Lydiksen. Gates got the job, splitting her hours between the elementary schools until moving over to Lydiksen full-time in fall 2015.
She credits Lydiksen principal Jacob Berg and Hearst principal Elias Muniz for being “excellent leaders for me.”
“They were just super supportive,” Gates said. “I feel like they both set me up for success.”
Hansen, meanwhile, reignited her passion for teaching.
“He made Harvest Park a really fun, inviting place to work and for kids to come to school,” Gates recalled. “That’s what I want my school to be, too — I want it to feel fun for everybody.”
When the principal spot opened up at Donlon this spring, Gates applied, buoyed by people who encouraged her to pursue the position.
Since arriving at Donlon over the summer, Gates has met individually with teachers and attended PTA meetings, working to build relationships within the school and Pleasanton community at-large.
She says she her personality as an administrator is “very loving.”
“I want people to feel the love when I’m in the room and when I’m talking to them,” Gates said. “I’m here because I love people.”
In her off time, Gates enjoys singing, reading, hiking and spending time with her family, which consists of husband Martin, daughters Caroline, 19; Elaina, 22 and Lizzy, 24 and dogs Snickers and Riley.
She earns an annual salary of $129,684 as principal of Donlon Elementary, located at 4150 Dorman Road.
