Former athletic director helps new teachers in district office position

You may remember him as your freshman health teacher or your P.E. teacher from sophomore year. This year, however, the school’s former athletic director, Peter Jordan, has taken a new direction in his career as the district’s instructional coach, a job that enables him to guide new teachers or those wanting a fresh eye to assist them.

Jordan first came to the school in 2000 and taught French 1-4 for seven years. He then moved on to teach Health and P.E. until last year.

At the same time, Jordan was also athletic director, a position he held for three years before football coach Tim Lugo took over. Now, for the first time, he is coaching teachers rather than students.

“I’m the kind of person who doesn’t like to do the same thing for too long, so I’ve changed along the way,” Jordan said.

The instructional coach position was created and approved by the school board in the spring of 2011, and the school board advertised for it over the summer for the 2012-13 school year. The district was looking for someone who could support teachers and provide some coaching.

“I really loved being an athletic coach,” Jordan said. “So I thought it was a wonderful opportunity to be in a type of coaching role as part of my full-time job.”

According to Jordan, when teachers get their preliminary teaching credential, they are supervised under an instructional coach for two years. Jordan’s job is to guide these new teachers through various activities and assessments. He currently is working with approximately 50 teachers at Saratoga and Los Gatos High Schools.

“Teachers who are new to the district like to take the opportunity of having an extra set of eyes in the classroom,” Jordan said. “Just like an athlete who’s working on their baseball swing, there are teachers who want to work on their skills. So I kind of provide a different perspective for them.”

Jordan plans on working for three or four years more and then retiring. For now he is unsure of whether he will continue his current position or do something new for those next few years.

“Maybe I’ll just do this for the last three or four years,” Jordan said. “It’s not exactly up to me, though.”

While transitioning from his old job to his current job is an ambitious task, Jordan is pleased with the challenges of the new position.

“I’ve been lucky enough to be able to do a variety of things since I’ve started working in this district,” he said. “I saw this as something new and something challenging, so I like it a lot.”