By Khalida Sarwari
The start of a new school year at Redwood Middle School also ushered in a new face in the principal’s office: that of Barbara Neal, previously the principal at Nordstrom Elementary School in Morgan Hill. She replaces outgoing principal Kelly Green.
The Saratoga Union School District board of trustees approved Neal’s appointment on Aug. 1. She brings with her 11 years of administrative experience, including four at Nordstrom and 17 years in primary education.
“After being principal for 11 years in the elementary realm, it was time for the next challenge, the next step in my career, and since I had taught at middle school, I knew I really enjoyed middle school,” Neal said.
By the second week of August, she was already brimming with ideas for her new post.
“I think the biggest goal or foremost goal for Redwood this year is building a good team of collaborators,” she said. “As we get into areas of STEM, students will be learning integrated curriculum. To be able to do that you need really good teams of teachers as opposed to departments of teachers. So our first step is making cross-curricular collaborative teams.”
Neal said she will also focus on professional development in the processes of student learning and helping teachers smoothly assimilate common core and STEM into their curriculum.
During her tenure at Nordstrom, Neal said she is most proud of her role in building a well-functioning and professional community where all of the school’s 28 teachers supported one another.
Prior to her stint at Nordstrom, Neal was principal at San Martin/Gwinn Elementary School in San Martin. She’s also served in that role at Burnett Elementary School and taught at Lewis H. Britton Middle School and Paradise Valley Elementary School in Morgan Hill.
It was at the latter school where she was first inspired to be a teacher while she was a parent volunteer in 1995. At the time she was director at the American Red Cross blood bank, but a teacher’s encouraging words helped her realize it was time for a mid-career change.
“The teacher said, ‘You’re really good at this; you should be a substitute teacher,’ ” Neal said. “I just absolutely fell in love with education. I think it was that lens through a mother’s eyes that made it seem like the best career in the world.”
Shortly after making that decision, Neal went on to get her teaching credential from Chapman University and her master’s in educational administration from Santa Clara University, where she also completed her undergraduate degree in biology.
She said more than anything, inculcating a respectful environment is most important to her.
“From the day I became a teacher until today and beyond, one of my core beliefs in the field of education is that [in order] for students to respect us as leaders, we have to respect them as students,” she said. “It has to be a two-way street.”
In her spare time, Neal volunteers with a German shepherd rescue society and provides foster care to dogs waiting for permanent homes. She enjoys camping, boating and the outdoors with her family. She lives in Morgan Hill with her husband, Daniel, a teacher in the aviation department at San Jose State University. They have four children, ages 24-28.
