Harris wins Petaluma education award

The McKinley principal is credited with turning around the elementary school.|

Matthew Harris credits his mother, a teacher in Michigan, with inspiring him to launch a career in education. After college at the University of Michigan, Harris taught briefly in South Korea before joining Teach for America, a nonprofit that places teachers in inner-city and rural schools across the country.

Harris was sent to teach in inner-city Los Angeles, an experience he described as challenging. During his time in Southern California, Harris also earned two master’s degrees, in education and education leadership, and a law degree from UCLA. He also met his wife, who now works for Teach for America.

After the birth of their daughter, the couple decided that Los Angeles wasn’t the best place to raise a family. In 2012, Harris landed a job as the principal of McKinley Elementary School in Petaluma, which was struggling with declining enrollment and had 90 percent of its students speaking English as a second language.

“Something about it spoke to me,” said Harris, 40, who is fluent in Spanish and French. “I love challenges. I wanted to dedicate my life to it.”

When he arrived, McKinley had 190 students. He was told the school might be forced to close if it couldn’t maintain an enrollment of 200. After making some revolutionary changes, including adding a Spanish program, a transitional kindergarten and an accelerated magnet program, he more than doubled the enrollment in five years.

For his efforts, Harris was awarded the Excellence in Education award at the 2017 Community Awards of Excellence on April 20.

Harris joked that his growing family is contributing to the increased enrollment at McKinley. His daughters Siena and Chiara both attend the school, and he has a 2-year-old son, Gabriel and a three-week-old son, Sebastian.

“I have a huge stake in the game,” he said.

In nominating him, Maureen Highland, executive director of the Petaluma Educational Foundation, said Harris has improved the school while staying committed to diversity.

“Has changed the impression of McKinley in the community while continuing to honor the diversity of his student body,” she wrote.

Harris said maintaining diversity is important, and is a reason why he sends his kids to McKinley. It is especially important in a place like Petaluma, where many working class families have been priced out due to the increasing cost of living.

While Harris is a rising star in the field of education, he said he has no plans to move on from McKinley.

“I’m very happy with where I am right now in life,” he said. “I’m principal of a great school with a great staff. I feel like I’m in such a good place.”

(Contact Matt Brown at matt.brown@arguscourier.com.)

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