BY ALEX CANTATORE
Staff Reporter
Turlock High School troublemakers beware, there’s a new sheriff in town.
Gabe Ontiveros, previously a teacher with the Turlock Unified School District for 11 years, was officially hired as the new THS Dean of Students last week.
“I had an opportunity to meet this gentleman, and I think he’s going to do a great job as Dean,” said Turlock Unified School District Superintendent Sonny Da Marto as he introduced Ontivaris to the TUSD Board of Trustees.
Before coming to THS, Ontiveros taught for five years at Osborn Elementary as a part of the immersion program and then spent six years at Dutcher Middle School. Throughout his career, though, Ontiveros has been as interested in what happened to his students outside the classroom as what occurred inside.
“I was always very interested in student activities and student discipline,” he said. “It really prepared me to move out of the classroom.”
Three years ago, Ontiveros made the first step towards getting there when he sought his masters in Multilingual Education, Curriculum and Instruction from California State University, Stanislaus. Ontiveros was then encouraged by friends and coworkers to pursue his administration credential, which he received in May.
After graduation, Ontiveros immediately started applying and, in his words, “got lucky” to be hired by THS.
“I feel very fortunate,” Ontiveros said. “All of the teachers and administrators have been so helpful, I am very lucky to be working with them. Support staff has been amazing too, especially my secretary Kelly.”
Dean Ontiveros replaces Isaias Rumayor, who was promoted to the post of Assistant Principal of Student Activities. As part of his new post, Rumayor still oversees Ontiveros, and helps to guide him through the more nuanced parts of caring for 2,300 students’ well-being.
In less than two weeks of school so far, Ontiveros has already had to deal with everything from simple issues like tardies, cell phones, and dress code violations, to the more serious sorts of infractions. The dean needs to address whatever comes his way, however, as the ever-present goal of controlling the environment can easily slip away.
“I’ve had to deal with a lot of issues so far,” he admitted, “more than what a small high school would see in a whole school year.”
In the coming months, the new dean hopes to issue fewer suspensions in order to keep kids in school more. Additionally, Ontiveros hopes to offer all the support he can in order to help teachers deal with discipline issues.
While the State of California’s educational code doesn’t allow much wiggle room for Ontiveros to exercise his discretion in some disciplinary matters, he really wants to offer students as many chances as he can to succeed in school.
“We try to say you’ve got a clean slate, prove to us you want to be here and learn,” Ontiveros said. “We feel this is a great environment to learn in.”
Ontiveros understands well the difficulties facing Central Valley youth, having come from Grayson. As he says, he’s one of the few who managed to make it out and do well for himself.
“From back then,” Ontiveros said, “I think that’s what drives my passion. To help kids make better decisions.
“I felt really good about convincing a kid to stay in school today. That’s a huge moment.”
To contact Alex Cantatore, e-mail acantatore@turlockjournal.com or call 634-9141 ext. 2005.
Originally published in the Turlock Journal 8/27/2008.
Retrieved from the Turlock Journal Web site.