“Coming home”
BVH class of ‘81 alumnus serves as interim principal
Bonita Vista High (BVH) Interim Principal Lee Romero sits in his office amongst the birthday decorations that were put up by the BVH administrators. They surprised Romero with a pie and birthday decorations for his 59th birthday on Oct. 6.
In the office, where previous Bonita Vista High (BVH) Principal Roman Del Rosario Ed.D. once sat, a new face emerges. A face that is unfamiliar to most BVH students, but is well known by the campus walls.
“I’m excited to be here, it’s coming home to a place that I spent three years [in]. There’s so many great memories that I have from this place and I’m thoroughly excited to be here,” BVH Interim Principal Lee Romero said.
Romero’s term began Oct. 3 and he has expressed his eagerness to join the BVH staff as an alumnus. He aims to create a more positive school environment along with the support of the staff and students.
“We’re gonna get a more positive school culture and he’s [Romero] gonna be able to bring the staff together and we’re gonna feel more comfortable being back in person 100%. The students and the teachers should be able to have a breath of fresh air for how positive he is as a person,” Attendance Coordinator Antonio Gutierrez said.
Romero has taught for over 35 years and retired in 2018. He returns to BVH with an effort to stand out to the students and staff, whether it be by connecting with students one-on-one or by creating excitement within the students during assemblies.
“I said I’m gonna do something different here… when in your life, if you have an opportunity to do things [where] you can inspire, you can excite people by being a Baron; that’s kinda cool right? So that’s why I’m back cause I think I can still do it,” Romero said.
Romero expresses finding comfort and feeling welcomed as he continues his work in the school that he once attended as a student. Although he serves as an interim principal for the remainder of the first semester of the school year, he aspires to fill his role as a principal by being as involved as possible.
“There’s a lot of staff members on this campus that love this school. Just like when I was here, there were staff members that lived and breathed Bonita and bled blue and gold. Some of those people are still here,” Romero said.
Similar to the dedication of the BVH staff, Assistant Principal Jason Josafat observes the dedication Romero has to his new role. He admires the effort Romero has already put into connecting with the BVH community.
“It’s important to communicate with everyone and to be out and about [to] talk to students and be with [them, or] with teachers. I’ve already learned that from Mr. Romero. It’s important that you provide energy to the school and the kids and the staff will give that energy back,” Josafat said.
Although Romero has never worked at BVH prior to this year, he is familiar with many of the staff members. Josafat met him over 20 years ago, Assistant Principal Esther Wise met him in 2003 and Gutierrez met him at a cultural event.
“I met Mr. Romero back in 2006. I knew him as an Assistant Principal and I met him through the Filipino district conference called Magkaisa. He was one of the advisors for that program. He’s always been charismatic, caring for students and overall a great guy,” Gutierrez said.
Most of Romero’s familiarity with BVH comes from his time here as a student. Just last year, he celebrated his 40th high school reunion for the class of 1981. His friends expressed their surprise that he went on to become a high school principal.
“When I went to my reunions my friends would go, ‘Oh my god you were like the dumbest kid in school, how did you become principal?’ because it’s not about the academic piece, it’s about being able to connect with people and that’s what I’m good at,” Romero said.
After high school, Romero attended Southwestern College for two years. He then attended San Diego State University (SDSU) for an additional four years to get his teaching credential in math. He admits that it took him longer than the ideal amount of time to get his credential, yet his teachers did not aid him in achieving his goal of becoming a teacher.
“I remember I was taking my fourth year of calculus at San Diego State and the teacher told me, ‘You know you got a C in calculus, you probably shouldn’t be a teacher,’” Romero explained. “It almost crushed me. But then I was able to realize that it’s not about academics, it’s about me connecting with people. So when I was a teacher it just worked.”
Initially, Romero had planned to be an architect, then an engineer before he finally settled on becoming a teacher. He found that writing was never his strong suit, resulting in him being drawn towards math and sciences. That was until he met a woman who encouraged him to go into teaching.
“I worked for a company where this lady, who was a teacher that quit said, ‘You’re funny, you should be a teacher,’” Romero said. “When she said that, I changed my major and I started taking classes in teaching. [As] I was going through the classes, I was like ‘This is the right thing. It feels good. I’m excited to be a teacher.’”
This excitement continues to motivate him even after retiring as a principal. He comes to BVH with 35 years of experience and having worked as an interim principal for Sweetwater High School last year. These experiences influence his goals as BVH’s interim principal.
“I’ve seen certain kids acting out because of COVID, social media and all of these things so it would be great if I could bring normalcy back. If I could [make] people excited to go to assemblies, [be] proud of being a Baron [and] understand that their character is the most important thing,” Romero said.
Sharing these lessons with students is what brings Romero the most joy. It is what pulled him out of his comfortable, relaxing retirement and into the position of BVH’s interim principal. In his experience, he found that working with students is his true purpose.
“In life, we strive to do something good and I’ve always believed this, you always strive to do something good and give back to either the community or have a purpose,” Romero said. “What I’ve found in my life, being a principal, being a counselor, being a teacher, is that connecting with students and helping them do the right thing has brought me a lot of joy.”
I am a senior at Bonita Vista High and this is my second year as a staff member of the Crusader. Last year, I had a blast being News Editor and I am excited...
I'm a senior at Bonita Vista High School and this is my second year returning to the Crusader staff. I have been a Podcast Manager for the last two years...
