Westwood Elementary’s new principal plans to encourage creativity and collaboration

Helping Westwood Elementary students retain and be more confident in their creativity are among goals of the Rancho Bernardo campus’ new principal.

“There is a creativity crisis,” said Kaleb Rashad. “From transitional kindergarten to fifth grade there is a measurable loss in creative ability, in the double digits. When you talk to adults now, they think they are not creative. Part of my work, my life’s mission, is to help (students) develop greater creative confidence.”

Rashad succeeds Mike Mosgrove, now principal at Park Village Elementary.

Rashad returned to Poway Unified School District after being an elementary principal at Val Verde Unified School District in Riverside County, where early in his career he taught sixth grade math and science. During his previous tenure in Poway Unified he was an assistant principal at Twin Peaks Middle School (2008-09) and Oak Valley Middle School (2009-12).

During the latter, while working with Principal Sonya Wrisley (now principal at Design 39 Campus), Rashad said he saw the future of education. “She was really a huge catalyst in my thinking on the possibilities of what learning can look like in the future,” Rashad said of his mentor.

In contrast to a regimented approach to education, one that turns off students and their creativity, Rashad said he advocates flexible, open source learning that uses a multitude of ways to educate. This includes opportunities for students to make, create and produce prototypes ... “that are meaningful and valuable to them.”

He said this approach starts with the school’s culture of innovation and possibility, one that incorporates students, staff, families and the community. Through communication, they can work together to solve problems, collaborate and create.

“People love Westwood,” he said. “It’s a family school.”

When speaking about what is in store for the 800 transitional kindergarten through fifth grade students returning to class on Wednesday, Rashad mentioned Maker Days, Innovation Days and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) events open to the public so students have “opportunities to share their work with the world.”

The Florida native said he came to California as a young Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton. After his four-year enlistment, he attended Azusa Pacific University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in human development and two master’s degrees — one in teaching and learning, and another in educational administration. He is a doctoral candidate in educational leadership at APU, scheduled to defend his dissertation on interpersonal trust this fall and graduate next summer.

“It’s been a long, slow journey, but great,” Rashad said.

Early in his collegiate studies Rashad said he planned to major in computer science or business management, but a class on social justice, equality and social mobility put him on the educational career path. Influences included the late W.E.B. Du Bois. Rashad cited a Du Bois quote, that “Education and work are the levers to uplift a people.”

“(The class) struck a chord,” he said. “I knew I had the opportunity to do something really great with kids who are on the margin, devalued and under appreciated.”

Rashad said this is the golden age of education, calling it an “amazing renaissance,” that started with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. He said it moved education from the industrial era formula used in the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s to one where there is a greater emphasis on knowledge, including creation, innovation and uniqueness. While that old model he said “unfortunately” still exists in many places, a shift is occurring at many schools, including Design 39. He credited to Superintendent John Collins, who has challenged Poway Unified to be more innovative.

Rashad, who lives in Temecula, said he and his wife, Cori, have two sons, Thomas, 10, and Noah, 5. He also has three older children. In his free time, Rashad said he enjoys being outdoors, participating in activities such as snowboarding, hiking and camping.