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Long-time Harvey Milk Principal to Retire
Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy Principal Sande Leigh. (photo: Bill Sywak)
By Bill Sywak
Sande Leigh, the beloved principal of Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy, will be retiring after 35 years working in San Francisco schools at the end of the school year. To commemorate her service and her 13 years as principal at Harvey Milk, a block party will be held in her honor on June 6, between 7–10 p.m. on 19th Street between Collingwood and Diamond streets.
Before the party starts, the Courier got a chance to ask Leigh a few questions about her tenure at Harvey Milk as well as her future plans.
Courier: How did you come to teach at the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy?
Leigh: Tom Ammiano worked tirelessly over 18 years to have a school named after Harvey Milk. Douglass School, in the Castro, was of course, the best location. After 18 years, the school was renamed Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy and I became its principal.
What have you aimed to accomplish in your time as principal? How has the school changed over the years?
I have always seen the school as a place to teach children tolerance and acceptance for the diversity of our city and planet, to give them the tools to be future global citizens able to interact intelligently, with empathy and caring and understanding - able to make a difference.
I have also seen Harvey Milk as working to provide an excellent academic, social and enriching environment in which to learn these valuable lessons. Then there is building the community of support, from the staff and the families to the neighborhood. The school has grown in its understanding of these goals and in its ability to bring then into the classroom. Our student achievement has greatly improved. Our extended school family is very involved.
What is your favorite part about being an educator?
The children. They get me out of bed and make me happy to be at work.
What are your future plans?
I am moving to New Orleans to go back into the classroom to teach. I hope to be a 4th or 5th grade teacher for the next episode in my career. I think I have learned a lot that I am anxious to bring into the classroom, directly to the students.
A legacy fund has been established to honor Leigh. To learn more, visit harveymilk.com.
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