Brandon Gallagher, the new principal at Malibu High School (MHS), finds himself fitting into the Malibu community as he prepares for the upcoming school year. Gallagher recently spoke with The Malibu Times about his background and goals here in Malibu.
Gallagher is excited to join the Malibu community. He plans to live nearby in Ventura County with his family. His two children will attend Malibu Middle School in the fall, and he hopes to be at MHS when they graduate as seniors.
Soon after high school graduation, Gallagher went to California State University, Bakersfield as an undergraduate, and later attended California State University Northridge, where he received his master’s degree and became a part of the first doctoral cohort at the college. He was working toward a career as a physician.
In his last years in college, Gallagher had a job as a substitute teacher at a local school. One day, a very persuasive superintendent saw him engaging in a class filled with students that struggled academically. She asked him to stay long term, as the teacher of the class would be temporarily absent. After some convincing, Gallagher decided to stay and become a fulltime teacher.
“I found a really happy marriage to help people meet the needs of their children’s education,” Gallagher explained. “It really became satisfying to me in the same sort of light that being a physician would have been … I don’t regret it for a second. I love being an educator.”
After being a teacher and a principal in Hawaii and Santa Paula, Gallagher showed interest in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District’s (SMMUSD) first and second job request for a new MHS principal. After SMMUSD encouraged him to apply, he landed the job.
“I liked the small community style — that was immediately appealing,” Gallagher said. “It was really the draw of working with the community. You get to know the kids and the parents; that’s always been my favorite part about working with small schools.”
MHS will be Gallagher’s first experience being a principal for high school students. He is thrilled about the opportunity.
“Working with the high school students, there are a lot of things that [students] are doing that are similar interests of mine or things that I have already done,” Gallagher said. “The neat part of working in a high school is people that are going to be young adults or are young adults. It’s cool be a part of that guidance.”
As the 2015-16 school year approaches, Gallagher has his hands full but, in the spirit of the Malibu community, parents and community members have already offered to help out.
“Everyone’s very positive and wants to help out to do what’s best for the community,” Gallagher said. “I’m hoping we can leverage it to continue to promote excellence here at the school.”
As for changes for the upcoming school year, Gallagher does not plan on anything drastic.
He explained, “I think that the first year that you come into a place, it’s prudent to learn more about the culture of where the school has been and what other people are looking for … my job is to facilitate what the students, parents and staff want [the school] to be.”
While there may not be any big cultural or academic shifts, Gallagher plans on “completing the school’s package” by focusing on school pride.
“[MHS] is a community that values excellence. I want to see that thrive and flourish,” Gallagher said. “People are really starting to want to be a part of school spirit. I want to make sure we focus on school pride. We are having this upward trend of people participating in school activities. I want to build our facilities because I want our campus to reflect the great school we have.”
Gallagher comes to the job with local knowledge and plenty of diverse experience.
Growing up near Ventura, Calif., Gallagher was an active student at Ventura High School. He played basketball, volleyball and ran track at school, and he also loved to swim. In his free time, he surfs as well.
Gallagher has also actively followed his passion of traveling and studying abroad.
“I’ve lost track of how many countries I’ve been to. If it’s an adventure in life, I’ve probably done it or it’s on my to-do list,” Gallagher said.