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| Superintendent
Glen Senestraro |
 Superintendent Glen Senestraro
is a local boy who graduated from Fortuna High School himself.
He went to CSU Sacramento to earn his teaching credential in
1994. He majored in math and taught at Eureka High from 1994
to 1998. In the fall of 1998, he came to Fortuna High. Senestraro
married Sharyn, a girl from Arizona he met on a blind date. They
proceeded to raise a family in Fortuna and have a son, Lucas,
who is 6 and a daughter, Corinna, who is 5. His children go to
school locally at Ambrosini. While working full-time and juggling
the duties of a father of small children, Senestraro earned his
Administrators credential and Masters in Educational Administration
from National University.
”My ultimate goal has always been to
be Superintendent,” he said. “We've had Mr. Hanson who was here
for 15 years, but more recently it has felt disconnected, I'm
looking forward to providing leadership with a vision to the
future.” Senestraro is intimately familiar with the community
and the school.
”My dad graduated from Fortuna High School in
1957 and my mom graduated in 1961,” he said. Glen spent his childhood
peddling his bicycle around the neighborhood and watching Fortuna
grow. “I've been here for a while and I want my kids to grow
up here,” he said. He laughed at the thought of his own kids
coming to Fortuna High. “I have at least 10 years to think about
it,” he chuckled. As an administrator, Senestraro believes it
helps coming from the ranks.
”It gives experience getting to
know the people you are leading. You don't have to learn the
local culture and community when you are a product of the system,”
he said. He feels the area he is most interested in would be
technology. ”
I guess my pet project would be technology and increasing
the band width,” he explained. “I want to work on access and
planning for technology.
I want to put energy into having fewer
technological glitches and put effort into making everything
bigger, more capable of allowing access. We have a new data class
which will require an increase in our capabilities. What I really
want to do is have foresight in our planning to encompass what's
coming. We will need to lay an infrastructure which will be capable
of handling what we are wanting to do, rather than doing patch
work and constantly playing catch up,” he said.
Senestraro sees
the programs such as Parent Connect as having great potential
to bridge the gap between the school and the community. “As we
use it more and more parents get access, more space will be necessary.”
As the use of the Internet increases, Senestraro is aiming for
having a system in place that will have the capabilities to handle
the increase far into the future.
”I want to lay down a foundation
for the long term,” he explained. The recent addition of the
Aeries program implemented at the school has been very successful.
”Aeries alleviates a lot of questions from families. The great
thing is you can sit at home in a robe and see what is happening.
The parent sees exactly what's happening with the student's assignments
and scores. There is no disconnect anywhere. We're at the beginning
stages of setting it up where kids will be turning in assignments
online. If they miss a day of school, they can look online for
their missed assignments,” he added excitedly. “We're just scratching
the surface of the possibilities!”
Senestraro considers he is
very lucky to have the great staff he has. “They make my job
so easy because they have been here a long time and really know
what they are doing. They are very competent and there is good
continuity,” he said.
He wants to make it his goal to increase
student achievement. “It is integrally tied into technology,”
he explained. “With the new grading system everything is at your
fingertips. It expatiates our checking of grades. The teachers
have been in tune with their student but this is one more tool
that helps catch when students are slipping. With the new data
direction, we accumulate aggregate test scores which clearly
show where students have weaknesses and strengths.” Clearly the
new Superintendent believes staying abreast of technology is
a crucial component to improving the school. |
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