'Hands-on' principal arrives at Bonsall West

Janet Whiddon embraces her new job as principal of Bonsall West School with enthusiasm and vigor. It’s evident in her ready smile and firm handshake. Whiddon takes over for Tom Pelegrino, who opened Bonsall West two years ago. The school, situated at the end of a cul-de-sac in a neighborhood of modest homes, draws students for its K-5 classes from Oceanside, just inside the outermost boundary of the Bonsall district.

Whiddon comes to her new position directly from Washington Middle School in the Vista Unified School District, where she was employed in 1988. Hired first as a math and science teacher, Whiddon became dean of students at Washington Middle School, then rose first to assistant principal and ultimately to principal, a position she held since 2002.

Coming from a school of slightly more than 1,000 pupils to Bonsall West, with an enrollment of 381, will give Whiddon a chance to practice her hands-on management style. Rather than coming in with brand new ideas and programs, she says, “I want to see what’s there – be in the classroom and ‘hands-on’ with the staff and students.”

Whiddon believes in innovative classroom teaching, meaning collaborating with teachers to find the best way of reaching students, then devising methods to do it. She gives an example of teaching math and science by helping students build a bridge out of balsa wood. Students learn why it’s important to measure properly and the lesson includes “buying” the right kind of materials at a lumber yard and the cost of downtime when the construction crew is in place but the student doesn’t get the materials to them on time. “We even do a stress test for the bridge,” she says. Although the materials taught at Bonsall West cover the state standards, Whiddon believe children can learn in many ways.

A second asset Whiddon brings to this group of younger students is an understanding of what they will need as they move into middle school. Since she’s observed firsthand deficits in learning that may set back students moving into sixth grade and up, she can adapt subjects to compensate.

Whiddon has allies with both brains and brawn to help kids at Bonsall West, too. She just met with the Marine Corps captain at Camp Pendleton, who coordinates their Adopt a School program, which provides Marine Corps personnel to tutor students in math and English skills in the classroom.

“We can use their muscles, too,” Whiddon said, commenting that the fireplace in the library needs a hearth on which kids can sit. She would also like stones spelling “BW” placed on the slope adjacent to the playground.

Whiddon is also considering having the Character Counts pillars painted on the handball court as a reminder of the program that started at Bonsall West when it opened and now is administered district-wide.

Regardless what the days to come will bring, Whiddon says she will always strive for “what’s best for kids.”