New principals announced for 2017-18 school year
Dr. Kathy Estevez (left) will be the new principal of Gallatin Elementary School and David Cid (center) will the new principal at Rio San Gabriel Elementary School. Downey Unified has also welcomed a new Director of Special Education, Dr. Patricia Sandoval (right).
The Downey Unified School District has announced two new principals and a director of special education for the 2017-18 school year, which begins Aug. 16.
Dr. Kathy Estevez will take over as principal at Gallatin Elementary, while David Cid will be Rio San Gabriel Elementary. Dr. Patricial Sandoval is the district's new Director of Special Education.
The Downey Board of Education approved the appointments in May.
Dr. Kathy Estevez:
As a product of Downey Unified, attending Gallatin Elementary School and Doty (then East) Middle School, Dr. Estevez has children who are enrolled in Downey Unified schools.
Estevez joined the district in 2014 as an assistant principal at Downey High School (DHS). In her tenure at DHS, Estevez oversaw the budget, AVID, Special Education, Cheer and Dance, and the School Site Plan.
Prior to joining Downey Unified, she served in several other secondary education positions including being an assistant principal at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall, a Special Education Teacher Specialist, and a Math, Science and Health teacher in a continuation high school setting in Redondo Beach.
Although Estevez has been at the secondary level the past few years, she began her educational career at the elementary school level for nine years; teaching fourth grade for six years and second grade for three years for the Redondo Beach Unified School District. During this time, Estevez was named District Teacher of the Year for Redondo Beach Unified. She also served as an elementary school summer school principal in Redondo Beach.
David Cid:
Mr. Cid has been a part of the Downey Unified family for the past 20 years, beginning his career for the district working as a substitute teacher from 1998 to 2004.
From 2004 until 2014, he worked as a Resource Specialist Program teacher at Carpenter and Rio San Gabriel elementary schools. During this time, Cid also served on the Instructional Leadership Team, was the coordinator of Character Counts and 504 plans.
He moved into the Categorical Resource Teacher position at Rio San Gabriel Elementary School in 2014, and in 2015 through 2016 he worked as an administrator for summer school. Last year, Cid was hired as the vice principal split between Rio San Gabriel and Imperial elementary schools.
In addition to his experiences in Downey Unified, Cid also has past experience as a coach/manager for DJAA and the YMCA, served as the Director of Summer Programs for the Southern Baptist Association, acted as a Group Home Counselor and Manager, and was a church youth director.
Dr. Patricia Sandoval:
Although she began her career in Downey Unified in July, Dr. Patricia Sandoval is not new to the city of Downey. Growing up in Bell and currently residing in Downey, she comes to the district from the Anaheim Elementary School District where she served as principal for the past seven years.
Sandoval was highly regarded within Anaheim Elementary School District known as an expert at building positive organizational culture. In the last year, she was handpicked to lead the efforts to transform a campus, a true tribute of her abilities as a leader.
Prior to her experience in Anaheim, Sandoval was a bilingual psychologist for five years and a bilingual teacher for eight years in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Sandoval earned a Bachelor of Arts in Ethnic Studies from the University of California, Berkley, a Master of Arts in Education from UCLA, a Master of Arts in Counseling from CSULA, and a Doctor in Education (Ed.D.) in K-12 Leadership from USC. She has been an adjunct professor at California State University, Fullerton, and has presented at numerous educational conferences on topics such as “College Knowledge in the Classroom” and “Sheridan’s Student Success Teams.”
Sandoval was a protégée in the California Association of Latino Superintendents and Administrators Mentoring Program from 2010 to 2012.