Quick Take
After about five decades in Alaska, educator Lisa Lansdale has relocated to California to become the new principal of Aptos High School. As she steps into a leadership role at a school still recovering from recent turmoil, Lansdale aims to foster safety and joy.
Aptos High School Principal Lisa Lansdale said after living nearly all of her 52 years in Alaska — where in winter months she got only about 5½ hours of daylight — she and her husband were ready to embark on something new, and involving more sunshine.
“After finishing a bunch of winters in the dark, starting work in the dark and going home in the dark, it was just getting to me,” she said. “My kids are adults, and I thought I would try some new adventure.”
She found that new chapter, and sunshine, as the new principal of Aptos High School. Her first day on the job was July 1 and the first day of school was Aug. 13.
Lansdale will be responsible for setting the tone for Aptos High’s 1,274 students, managing its operations and supporting its teachers and staff. The high school has experienced several significant challenges over the past several years, from the pandemic, to the fatal stabbing of a student on campus in 2021 and last year’s fallout from districtwide budget cuts.
The school is also coming out of a tumultuous year after its former principal, Alison Hanks-Sloan, departed from the role against the wishes of many parents and teachers. The district said she resigned, but her father told Lookout the district reassigned her. This month, Hanks-Sloan told Lookout she was reassigned to the role of administrator on special assignment, where she was briefly until the Pajaro Valley Unified School District board approved her resignation this week. Her last day with the district will be Friday, and on Monday she’ll start as the director of curriculum and instruction in the Salinas Union High School District.
“While I will miss Santa Cruz County, I am so excited for this opportunity to work with some amazing leaders who are truly integrity oriented, and all about students,” she told Lookout.
Brandon Diniz, president of the teachers union, told Lookout that he’s heard that Aptos High teachers are feeling “pessimistically optimistic” about their new head and the new year after losing Hanks-Sloan.
“People are really wanting to see a strong start to the year,” he said. “But also I feel like there’s an apprehension.”
Lansdale said she and Hanks-Sloan talked several times and Lansdale hopes to continue building on what Aptos High School leaders have developed.
“I’m not coming here trying to make massive changes,” she said. “What I’m adding to the mix is joyful excitement.”
Lansdale and school staff were quick to bring joyful excitement on the third day of school when they dressed up as characters from the animated film “Minions.” She was dressed as the villain, Scarlet Overkill.
“We had a little skit, and the kids enjoyed it,” she said. “We’re trying to make school an enjoyable place where kids feel safe.”
While in Alaska, Lansdale lived between the communities of Eagle River and Chugiak, near the city of Anchorage. For most of her career, from 1991 to 2021, she worked at Anchorage School District in various roles, including teacher, assistant principal and principal. Most recently, she was the K-12 Raven Homeschool coordinator for the Yukon-Koyukuk School District.
Lansdale has seven kids of her own, who range in age from 17 to 31. Her husband, Rob, is now working for a company called Anaergia, which is building a facility at a water treatment plant in Monterey where it’s creating natural gas from food waste and wastewater. They’re renting a home on a 1-acre lot in Royal Oaks after her husband found it and thought it might feel more like Alaska with all of the open space. Horses, cows and chickens roam the streets near their home.
“It’s awesome,” she said. “At night I can hear the cows.”
While she and her husband adjust to their new home, they’re also adjusting to living in a new state. Lansdale said they were shocked by the high California taxes; Alaska doesn’t have state income or sales tax. “I told my husband we did not plan for tax as a budget line item,” she said. “This is a lot.”
She said because they didn’t move down with furniture and everything they would need, paying local sales taxes for the items they purchased here was a surprise. Among the items they did bring down were some fishing gear and dirt bikes – two of their favorite hobbies, which they’re looking forward to exploring in the new environment.
But with the start of school, Lansdale has been focused on learning about the new campus and community. She’s absorbing what she can and figuring out how to enhance the systems already in place, like the safety plan. Lansdale said the school safety plan is reviewed and updated annually, so there’s always room for improvement.
For example, she wants to develop planning so that in the case of an emergency each building on the campus has its own medical kit and staff know how to respond. She’s also focused on making a plan for the release of students to guardians during an emergency.
Safety and student release plans are especially important for Lansdale. When she was working as a principal at an elementary school in Anchorage, she managed the disaster response for a magnitude 7.1 earthquake. Two of the three bridges in the area were destroyed, causing major transportation challenges for families trying to pick up their children.
“It took almost 16 hours for a parent to get to their kid,” she said. “For a while, we couldn’t locate one parent, so we thought maybe they got hurt. You need to know where kids are and be able to find them quickly for parents, because, when a situation like that goes on, it’s impacting the whole community, and we want to be a smooth, safe, calming presence in the midst of any kind of situation.”
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