Longtime teacher, administrator named Terman principal
- August 1, 2013
A longtime Palo Alto teacher and middle-school administrator was named Tuesday as principal of Terman Middle School.
Pier Angeli LaPlace, who has taught in Palo Alto for more than 20 years, replaces Katherine Baker, who led Terman for three years before becoming the school district's director of secondary education July 1.
"I am excited to bring my 20-plus years of working with middle-school students in Palo Alto to my new role as principal at Terman," said LaPlace, who has been assistant principal at JLS Middle School since 2011.
At JLS, she developed several transition programs, including the popular Panther Camp for entering sixth-graders and "exit interviews" for graduating eighth-graders.
"The vision and mission of Terman as an inclusive and socially respectful school dedicated to all of its students mirror my philosophy and I look forward to working alongside the fantastic staff to help our students continue to develop and achieve," she said.
Except for one year teaching at Duveneck Elementary School, LaPlace has worked her entire Palo Alto career at JLS, where she has been a teacher, an instructional supervisor, a coach of other teachers and leader on a number of school and district-wide committees.
She attended Stanford University and holds a bachelor's degree in history and ethnic studies from California State University at Hayward (now Cal State East Bay) and a master's in educational administration from Santa Clara University.
"Pier Angeli has a strong history of instructional leadership in our district and she is an outstanding match for Terman," Superintendent Kevin Skelly said. "I am proud of her and excited about the gifts she will bring to Terman and our leadership team in her new role."