After one of Palo Alto High School’s longtime campus supervisors retired in December, Paly welcomed its newest staff member to the campus supervision team and greater Paly community.
Chase Hartmann, Paly’s newest campus supervisor, joined the staff in late January following Mary Puorro’s retirement. Hartmann’s employment marks the first addition to the campus supervision team in seven years since supervisor Ernesto Cruz was hired in 2007, according to Assistant Principal Victoria Kim.
Hartmann, who has worked at Jordan Middle School for the past five years and is currently the school’s athletic director, said he was ready to take on a bigger role.
“I have worked over at Jordan for five years now,” Hartmann said. “I wanted to expand on my career and this was kind of the next step. … I thought Paly would be a good start.”
According to Kim, having a job on campus will allow Hartmann to be exposed to new opportunities in the school district and Dean of Students Craig Tuana agreed.
“Just getting into the field of education and working at a high school can lead to other positions and possibilities,” Tuana said. “[As will] working with students and learning about how schools function.”
According to Hartmann, he envisions a long future working at Paly and aspires to be an administrator one day.
“Ultimately, I’d like to continue here at Paly and eventually get up to maybe an administrative position,” Hartmann said. “I think it’s a good stepping stool for me to get into the school district and then slowly move up toward being an administrator. I think the first step to being an assistant principal is to take a position you’ll eventually oversee.”
Working two jobs means long hours for Hartmann, who commutes between Paly and Jordan every day. According to Hartmann, he starts his day at 7:30 a.m. every morning at Paly before heading over to Jordan at 2 p.m., where he works until 7 p.m. Despite this schedule, Hartmann said he is not phased by the long hours and finds his work to be rewarding.
“[It’s been] really enjoyable,” Hartmann said. “The staff, the kids, everybody has been friendly and welcoming. It’s definitely an ideal job that I would like to do and continue to do.”
Kim said that while she was looking through potential hires, she felt that Hartmann would make a good campus supervisor due to his positive attitude and ability to work with other supervisors.
“What was most appealing about him was his work ethic and ambitious attitude,” Kim said. “He’s a team player and he works well with the other campus supervisors.”