Borrego: How did you first get into teaching?

​

Harvatine: I grew up in it. My parents are educators, grandparents were educators, aunts and uncles are educators. I grew up in schools just going to work with my parents, or a Saturday. My dad would have us play in the gym while he did work at his school when he was a principal. So, I grew up doing all that, and then I taught swim lessons to kind of see if I wanted to be a teacher. So, that’s how I got started and then went to college to be a teacher.

 

Borrego: How did that evolve into being an assistant principal?

​

Harvatine: So, like I was saying, I grew up in education, so I saw my dad be a principal for my entire childhood. So, kind of when I started teaching I was like, “Maybe that’s something I’d like to do.” And then, throughout the years of me teaching, I was able to become a department chair, an instructional specialist, and then just through that transition, I was like, “This is something I kind of want to explore,” trying to have a bigger impact on schools, on the student body. So then, I decided to go back to school and get my master’s degree, and my licensure, to become an assistant principal.

​

Borrego: So, there’s levels to it then?

​

Harvatine: There’s levels to it, for sure that I went through. More or less, I was offered the department chair when I was at Nimitz, and I wanted to see how I liked that. And I liked the ability to help guide the department and make some big changes just for one department. And then, I was like, “Maybe I wanna do something more.”.

 

Borrego: What was the biggest obstacle to attaining your position?

​

Harvatine: My biggest obstacle was, I think, time management. I know everyone talks about time management, but I was working full-time when I went back to school, just like most educators, or when we go back for our licensure. So, just trying to find that balance of, “Okay, I’m working full-time as a teacher,” “I’m in school full-time,”. And then, I also wanna have a social life and have things outside of school. Just trying to find that balance of everything, which is very hard to do. Just trying to find that, and being able to be flexible and adaptable.

​

Borrego: Just trying to find that work-life balance?

​

Harvatine: Just trying to find that work-life balance for sure.

 

Borrego: Are there any significant differences between teaching and being an assistant principal? 

​

Harvatine: So, one of the biggest differences, I would say, if you had to ask me from when I was a teacher versus an assistant principal, is working with different groups. And I say working with different groups in, I’m working primarily with students to now, I’m working with adults and students. So, you go adding adults in there, which it’s great to work with adults. It’s just a different perspective. It’s nothing worse or better, it’s just working with adults versus working with students.

​

Borrego: So, you’re just working with people period?

​

Harvatine: Working with people period, and just the scope of people I work with.

 

Borrego: Does your job affect your life outside of Blanson?

​

Harvatine: I would say every job affects your life outside of wherever you work. But, yeah, my job affects my life outside of Blanson. Just certain times I might be super tired from the week, so I might not want to do something on a Friday night or a Saturday night, I might just want to rest. But, that’s also every job. So, I think it affects the hours a little different because we work very early compared to some other 9 to 5 jobs. We’re here at 6:15, 6-20 in the morning. So, we’re early, but it’s great cause we’re done early, so there’s positives and negatives where, yes it affects it, but not in a negative way. It just changes my schedule and changes how I interact with friends and family members. 

​

Borrego: So, they weigh each other out.

​

Harvatine: They definitely weigh each other out.

 

Borrego: Do you have any visions or plans for Blanson?

​

Harvatine: One of my big visions or plans, especially with me being over our students who are learning English as a second language, our emerging bilingual students, is I want to get our graduation rate up for that seal of biliteracy. And, I also want to make sure our programs for those students of (are) getting them out of that program, getting rid of those labels because it helps them in showing employers that you know you can speak two languages, as well as showing colleges and universities that you don’t need extra support in English, (and) you can just go into a regular English class. My big thing is I wanna save you time and money. So, that’s kind of my big focus right now, is trying to get our seal of biliteracy rates up, and our graduation rates from Telpas up.

 

Borrego: Do you ever miss teaching?

​

Harvatine: There are days when I miss teaching. I remember going in to observe social studies teachers and I taught some of these lessons. I was like, “Oh, I really miss it.”, just because sometimes I miss sharing my love of history with the students. So, yeah, I definitely miss some of those relationships, but both are good positions.

​

Borrego: Oh, you were a history teacher?

​

Harvatine: Yes, I was a teacher, a US History teacher. So, sometimes I really miss sharing just the stories of my family or stories of my life that I’ve had the ability to use with the students.

 

Borrego: Do you see yourself teaching again or continuing to move up the ladder?

​

Harvatine: My personal goal is I’d like to be a building principal like Mr. Van Donsel.

 

Borrego: Oh, like running the whole school?

​

Harvatine: Run the whole school, that was one of my personal goals. So, I think that I want to explore that track more and see what happens with that.