Longtime Tokay High administrator among those in new places
Jul. 30—Students will return to Lodi Unified School District campuses on Monday, and many will be greeted by new faces to kick off the 2022-23 year.
Seven elementary schools in Lodi have new principals or vice principals this year, along with three high schools and one middle school.
Scott McGregor will return to campus next week after a few years at the James Areida Educational Support Center as assistant superintendent of secondary education.
McGregor will be Millswood Middle School's new vice principal. Prior to his time at the district office, McGregor was principal of Lodi Middle School.
Nanci Johnston was announced as vice principal at Lockeford School Friday. Previously, she served as a reading intervention teacher at Beckman Elementary School.
Wagner-Holt Elementary School principal Jennifer Huiras moves to Heritage Elementary School to take over leadership duties there, joined by Tiffini Vaccarezza as her vice principal.
Huiras replaces Alberto Lopez Velarde, who moves to the principal post at Houston and Victor Elementary Schools.
Previously, Huiras served as principal at John McCandless STEM Charter School in the Lincoln Unified School District, and Vaccarezza was a teacher at Mosher Elementary School.
Eric Collins, principal at John Muir Elementary School, moves into the position at Larson Elementary School, and Ed Gehrke, vice principal at Wagner-Holt, will join him.
Alajandrea Estrada is a completely new face to the district this year, taking over principal duties at Joe Serna, Jr. Elementary School. Estrada previously served as voce principal at Beitzel Elementary School in the Elk Grove Unified School District.
Christine Neal, an instructional technology teacher with the district, becomes vice principal at Reese Elementary School.
As of Friday, the principal slot at Lakewood Elementary School was vacant.
At the high school level, Enrique Avalos takes over at Tokay, replacing Eric Sandstrom, who moves to Independence and Henderson as principal at those campuses.
Avalos has been a teacher, vice principal and program coordinator in the district, and most recently served as principal at Plaza Robles High School.
Sandstrom moves to Independence and Henderson after 19 years as Tokay's principal.
Former Bear Creek High School assistant principal Dr. Allen Dosty returns to the campus this year as its principal after spending five years in the district office as the coordinator of child welfare and attendance.
Dosty will be joined by assistant principals Vanessa Jara and Robert Winterhalter.
Jara had been assistant principal at McNair High School since 2019, and Winterhalter served as athletic director and English teacher at Lodi High School.
Winterhalter was also a finalist for the San Joaquin County Office of Education's 2022 Teacher of the Year. Jara switches positions with Dennis To, who will be joined by Shari Lujan as assistant vice principal at McNair. Lujan previously served as a special education teacher in the district.
