2 Ventura Principals Picked From Out of District

Ventura Unified School board members reached outside the district to appoint two principals from elsewhere in Southern California to the top jobs at the city’s two public high schools.

In a meeting Tuesday night, the school board unanimously approved the appointment of Fillmore High School Principal Jaime Castellanos to take over Buena High School. Board members also selected Jerry Barshay, principal of Arcadia High School in Los Angeles County, to become principal of Ventura High.

Supt. Cesare Caldarelli Jr. made the recommendations to the board based on a list of five finalists, including three district employees. The list was narrowed from a field of eight applicants who were interviewed by committees of parents, students, teachers and administrators at each school.

Castellanos, 39, who has served as principal of Fillmore High for three years, has an extensive background as a teacher and administrator at both public and private schools.

Before coming to Fillmore, he was assistant principal and a dean of students at San Marcos High School in Santa Barbara, where he worked for five years. He also worked for four years at Crespi High School, a private boys’ school in Encino, where he taught English, was dean of students and coached the football and baseball teams.

Castellanos has also taught at St. Anastasia School, a private junior high school in Westchester. A graduate of Loyola Marymount University in West Los Angeles, he attended law school for two years before returning to the university to earn a master’s degree in school administration.

“After two years in law school, I knew it wasn’t what I wanted to do,” Castellanos said. He said he has always preferred working with children.

He lives in Ventura with his wife, Paula, who is a sixth-grade teacher at Ventura’s Balboa Middle School, and their two sons.

Barshay, also a veteran educator, has been principal at Arcadia High for six years. Previously, he worked for the Torrance Unified School District for 18 years as a teacher, counselor and assistant principal.

Barshay has also taught at Cal State Los Angeles and worked as an adult education counselor in Torrance.

He received undergraduate and master’s degrees from Cal State Los Angeles and a second master’s degree from Loyola Marymount University. He is studying for a doctorate in educational management at the University of La Verne.

“I’m really excited about the position,” Barshay said. “I think both schools have a really fine reputation.”

The other finalists considered for the positions were Judith Bysshe, assistant principal at Buena High School, Helena Reaves, assistant principal at Ventura High and David Myers, assistant principal at Cabrillo Middle School.

The previous principals at the two high schools, Robert Cousar at Ventura and Michael Shanahan at Buena, announced their retirements earlier this year. Both said they wanted to take advantage of higher retirement benefits before salary cuts were imposed to help offset the school district’s projected deficit.

In a separate action Tuesday, the board approved 1.6% salary cuts for all teachers and administrators to help balance the district’s $54.6-million budget.