By Laura Nesbitt
Mountain View Telegraph
Danielle Johnston says she has come back home to Estancia.
Johnston's first day as principal of Estancia High School was July 17.
"This is my opportunity to come home again," Johnston said in a phone interview on Tuesday, the second day of school. The reference was to the novel "You Can't Go Home Again" by Thomas Wolfe, Johnston said.
Earlier this year she announced plans to retire as principal from East Mountain High School, a charter school in Sandia Park.
But Johnston said that when she saw that Doreen Winn had accepted a job as principal at Fort Sumner High School, she decided to apply after talking it over with her husband.
"I literally brought my application on the very last day and was interviewed and offered the position," Johnston said.
Winn left the district after serving five years as the high and middle school principal. Johnston was one of 25 applicants for the position, Superintendent Carolyn Allen-Renteria said.
"Mrs. Renteria and I have worked together since 1984 in one capacity or another. I was thrilled that she had decided to come out of her retirement to accept the superintendent position here," Johnston said.
On April 5 of last year the school board officially appointed Allen-Renteria as superintendent to take over from Bruce Peterson who resigned in the wake of a DWI arrest. Peterson was convicted of having an open container and DWI on June 24.
Working with a good superintendent helps a principal to deliver the services students need, Johnston said.
Allen-Renteria explained those services included type of curriculum, qualifications of teachers and good facilities. The Estancia school system experienced a "growth spurt of facilities" in the 1990s that includes a new high school, remodeled middle school, reopened Van Stone Elementary School and two new gymnasiums, Allen-Renteria said.
Johnston added that experience working in charter schools will be invaluable in her new position.
"Founders of charter schools are very idealistic, focused and community-service oriented people who know nothing about public education," Johnston said. That inexperience gives the administration more of an opportunity to become involved.
Another focus for Johnston will be communication between faculty, students and the community.
"I want to be as visible as I can. It's one day at a time and one step at a time," Johnston said.
Johnston worked inside the Estancia school system from 1979-95, first teaching middle school and then high school, and then serving as the principal of the middle school and then the high school.
Johnston served as principal for Moriarty High School and the Albuquerque Academy for the Performing Arts. She was principal of East Mountain High School from January 2004 through the end of the 2008 school year.
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