Inside Del Campo's Shy Wolfe Hides an Experienced Principal

A one-on-one interview with the press may be a first for Brett Wolfe as he sits down behind his desk at Del Campo High School. He eyeballs the notepad and voice recorder as they're laid out on his desk. And all at once, the interview is real and Mr. Wolfe is visibly a little shy, perhaps humble, but it seems needless considering what he's managed to accomplish with his years of experience.

Wolfe enters his 26th year in education. The educator spent 11 years as a teacher in Fresno's Central Unified School District, four as an assistant principal there as well. This will be his ninth year as a principal, having spent the previous eight at Central High School.

There's easiness in his smile and demeanor despite a visible nervousness, so the interview starts easy enough before getting into some of the more difficult questions.

Patch: What got you interested in being a principal in the first place?

Wolfe: I started off as a teacher and as I continued to teach, took on some leadership opportunities. I was involved with developing curriculum and got my master's degree in educational administration (from California State University, Fresno). I had some opportunities to become a vice-principal; I did that for about four years. In all of that 16 years of high school experience, I got an opportunity to be an elementary school principal, so I got to open a brand new elementary school. I came up with the school name, came up with the curriculum and submitted it to the board for approval; I came up with the school colors and mascot and got to pick all the furniture, hire all the teachers, set all the traditions—I did that for five years. I had an opportunity to go to the District office and mentor principals, did that for about two-and-a-half years. After that I had an opportunity to be a high school principal; I did that for two years.

P: Do you think that experience provides you with any unique perspective on what it takes to be a principal?

BW: Once upon a time, a principal was kind of like a plant manager, if you will. They would make sure their teachers were in the classrooms, make sure the budget was balanced—making sure money was going where it was supposed to go. We went from being like a plant manager to being more of an instructional leader and that's where I got excited about being a leader. As a leader you always want to be able to measure your success. Instead of trying to win football games, we're trying to get great scores.

P: Are there challenges at Del Campo that you want to confront and overcome?

BW: I will say that we have an opportunity to increase our test scores. Basically our focus is to push kids. If a kid comes in and scores "proficient," we want to move that student into the "advanced" level. The numbers are nice and of course we want to improve our API (academic performance index). Our biggest challenge is we want our kids to grow and get smarter. We want to prepare every student for college. The biggest thing is finding out what each student’s strengths are. We have a great AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) program. We want to make sure we get to kids as freshmen—as early as possible—and make sure we're getting them involved in some sort of activity, program or sport.

P: How often are you fielding questions about the district's budgetary concerns?

BW: We just had our first furlough day last Friday. There has been very little, if anything, to talk about there. It's basically taken up very little of my day. If the initiative doesn't pass, we may have to take more furlough days past November. We may have to take more furlough days in the spring. It could become an issue then. We'll have to do our jobs, and make sure first of all that our kids are getting the curriculum that they need. Sowe may have to get creative with that. We may also have to reach out to our community to make sure that we meet those needs. As of right now, we have enough money to get us through the year. As far as morale, things aren't negative at all. Teachers are working hard. They're taking care of the kids.

The principal will next start preparing for Del Campo's October Homecoming, which includes its long-honored traditional Homecoming Halls. 

"It's a big deal," he said. "That's one thing I really like about Del Campo: There's a lot of tradition here."

"We have people who have been here since the beginning and there's a tradition that we're looking to bring back."

Looking for more school news? Check our Back-to-School Guide for 2012.