Abraxas a ‘perfect fit’ for new principal

By Emily Sorensen

Though he’s new to being in charge, Abraxas Continuation High School’s new principal isn’t a newcomer to the school.

David MacLeod, a former assistant principal at Abraxas who took over the role as principal this year, after last year’s principal Ron Garrett moved to Poway High School, is a familiar face on the Abraxas campus. MacLeod has been at Abraxas for seven years, the entirety of his career in education. “I’m relatively new to education,” said MacLeod. “But Abraxas is the perfect fit for me. I’ve never thought about teaching anywhere else.”

Originally, MacLeod, who has a degree in sociology and criminal justice, was a provincial constable in Canada. “I really liked working with young offenders,” said MacLeod. After he was laid off, MacLeod said he went to Mexico to “collect his thoughts on the beach,” before going to work in the oil industry doing project management, where he traveled the world doing scheduled shutdowns.

After leaving that, he returned to Canada, but said he couldn’t deal with the cold after living and working in Venezuela, so he returned to Mexico where he met his fiancee, a San Diego resident. He obtained his teaching degree and a master’s in education and came to work in administration at Abraxas. “I’ve aimed to be principal [of Abraxas] from the beginning,” said MacLeod.

Now having met his goal, MacLeod doesn’t plan on resting on his laurels. “I want to change the community’s view of Abraxas,” said MacLeod. “People don’t know anyone who goes [to the school], and think it’s a bad school full of offenders, and that’s not the case. We do wonderful things here.” MacLeod said that the community has a view that Abraxas is a place where troublemakers are sent when they are kicked out of their school, but in fact, 95 percent of the student body at Abraxas chooses to attend the school. “It’s not the school you know from the ‘80s,” said MacLeod.

“We’re changing the curriculum to make it more of an alternative pathway,” said MacLeod. “For people who want to start a business, or go to a trade school, and not straight to a four-year college.” MacLeod says that in addition to a low student-to-teacher ratio in the classroom, Abraxas offers individual education plans for all students, and are working to add in even more changes that will improve the students’ education. “We want to create a menu of choice for the students to choose from,” said MacLeod.

“As principal, I’ve already changed the schedule to add in an elective period,” said MacLeod. “We’re trying to make it career oriented, so kids will have an easier time getting into trade schools.” MacLeod also said that he wants to work with more trade and culinary schools to further assist Abraxas students.

“All the changes [we’ve made or plan to make are] positive changes,” said MacLeod. “We’ve always done alternative things that other schools are looking at.” MacLeod said the school is also looking at possibly adding flexible start times for students who would like to start the school day earlier in order to work in the afternoon, or those who need a later start because they just can’t get up in the morning.

“There’s a one-size-fits-all approach [to education] in the district, that the district is trying to change,” said MacLeod. “Abraxas wants to be the leader in that.”