New Assistant Principal No Stranger to HSPVA

HSPVA is pleased to announce that as assistant principal Larry Trout retires, French teacher Oscar Perez (pictured) will be taking his place. 

HSPVA is pleased to announce (though this is practically old news to us) that as assistant principal Larry Trout retires, French teacher Oscar Perez will be taking his place. 

“Ever since I started working in education,” Mr. Perez tells me, “I had the leadership bug.”

Like Mr. Trout, Mr. Perez had over a decade of teaching experience prior to accepting this role - specifically, 16 years - so he will no doubt be prepared to take the position. He taught English as a second language in his home country of Colombia for six years, during four of which he doubled as a campus administrator, in charge of about 15 teachers and 600 students. Though he thoroughly enjoyed this job, he always had a love of travel and a desire to put his trilingualism (Spanish, English, and French) to good use, so he decided to move to the U.S. in 2000.

“As a brand new teacher here, I realized that I needed more experience in an American school before I could pursue my goal of being in a leadership position,” he says.

What did the acquisition of such experience entail? 

This mission began in North Carolina, where he taught his first language, Spanish, for three years, and it carried on to Houston, where he moved in 2003 to teach Spanish and French at Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions until 2008. From there Mr. Perez switched to working for the Houston Independent School District office as a Curriculum Manager for world languages.

“I was in that central office position at HISD for two years,” he recalls. “I learned a lot about instruction, professional development, and curriculum, but I was missing the teacher-to-student contact that a student-occupied campus would give me.”

Thus Mr. Perez arrived at HSPVA in 2010, teaching Spanish, along with French, only the first year, and then sticking to the latter (which I took freshman through junior year) through the 2014-2015 school year. The pedagogical and organizational skill he has demonstrated at DeBakey, HISD, and HSPVA shows that he will make an excellent assistant principal, but he understands that this new position will require some new knowledge and skills.

“I need to know more of the community, to be more known in the area,” he clarifies. “I already know a bit about the arts, but much more about languages and the humanities; I need to connect more with the arts scene in Houston.”

In addition to making these connections, his mid-term goals include becoming, quite simply, a good administrator for HSPVA, and continuing to develop the skills to fulfill the student and faculty needs. As for the long-term? To become a principal of a school in HISD or to move up the ladder in the district as an administrator.

“You must know that I think being a French teacher is a wonderful job,” he says, perhaps with some small regret about leaving it behind. “But I wanted to reach more people, so for a long time I’ve thought about the position of assistant principal. I was just waiting for the right fit for me, and HSPVA is what I’ve always dreamed of.”