HERMOSA BEACH : New Principal for School District

The Hermosa Beach City School District’s new principal, Jan Hillger, never intended to teach. She caught the teaching bug not in the classroom, she said, but in the Peace Corps.

After 22 years in education--the last nine in the South Bay--Hillger was appointed principal of Hermosa Valley and Hermosa View schools. She will take over the schools, which teach kindergarten through eighth grade, on Monday.

During her two-year tour of duty in the Peace Corps, Hillger taught math and science to third- and fourth-grade students in Malaysia. Although she spent five hours a day, six days a week for three months learning the Malay language, Hillger had to learn the local dialect on the job.

Hillger’s Peace Corps duty gave her enough experience to earn a teaching credential in California. She’s been working in California public education ever since. After teaching elementary and intermediate school, Hillger switched to school administration, serving as dean of students at Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District and most recently as associate principal at Peninsula High School.