Principal's Message
Dear DJAES Eagles School Community,
I am thrilled and honored to address this amazing group of students, families, and educators as the principal of Don Juan Avila Elementary School. I look forward to being a part of this exceptional community and I know that together we can do great things for all our students. I believe that a successful school culture is built on the positive relationships we can create with one another: students with students, staff with students, and staff with families. These positive bonds will help us address any challenges we may face together.
I have been in education for the past 24 years. I was a science teacher, a middle school assistant principal, and a middle school principal for seven years. I joined the Capistrano Unified School District this past school year as an assistant principal at Hidden Hills Elementary School. I also worked in Human Resources with our District’s Induction Program, helping to support Capo’s first- and second-year teachers hone their instructional skills to become better educators. I have two children of my own who have been Capo Unified students from elementary through high school. I have been thrilled to be a Capo parent and a Capo educator. On a personal note, my out-of-school interests include mountain biking (I frequently ride right near DJAES in Aliso Woods Canyon), science fiction shows and films (Star Trek over Star Wars), and cooking (...but I can’t bake). If you have the same interests, I’d love to chat with you.
I am looking forward to supporting all the wonderful things already happening at DJAES. We are lucky to have a District-wide Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) program that is designed to support the whole child. I’m sure you have seen information about MTSS through district communication. My goals include a continued focus on Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) designed to help monitor and support the academic progress of all students, the use of assessment data to drive strategic instruction, and using that data to identify students needing interventions and enrichment based on where they are at. I believe in the Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (PBIS) program which offers direct instruction to all students in the areas of being respectful, responsible, and ready to learn. I have been a part of two different platinum-level PBIS schools for the past four years and I look forward to helping our PBIS team move DJAES gold-level status to platinum!
In closing, I eagerly anticipate working together with the DJAES community to support our students. Go Eagles!
Sincerely,
Richard Freda
Principal, Don Juan Avila Elementary School