Retirement arrives for longtime Sonoma County principals and teachers

If Principal Kathy Coker had to sum up her approach to leading Santa Rosa Middle School for the past ?12 years, it might be in three blue and gold words writ large on one of the campus walls: “Just Be Nice.”

“It’s kind of our mantra,” said Coker, who retired Friday after 16 years at the school. Coker’s wholehearted affection for the campus is evident in such slogans, which, along with photo collages of students and motivational posters, are displayed in nearly every hallway of the downtown school.

Coker is one of two principals retiring in Sonoma County’s largest school district this spring, in addition to ?39 teachers. Across town, Sally Bimrose is stepping down as principal at Piner High School after 29 years working in the school district.

Jason Lea, assistant superintendent of human resources for the district, said the principals and teachers leaving this year have made memorable contributions to the education of generations of students.

“I’m a product of Santa Rosa City Schools and some of these people were teaching when I was in school,” he said. “I appreciate everything they’ve given us.”

Coker is also a product of Santa Rosa City Schools and her roots run especially deep at Santa Rosa Middle School. She kept in her office a World War II-era Santa Rosa Middle School yearbook featuring pictures of her mother. Coker herself attended the school, as did her sister, brother and aunt. Her grandson just finished his eighth-grade year.

“This is home for me,” Coker said Wednesday, two days before classes ended.

And her roots at the school aren’t just metaphorical. In her time serving first as assistant principal and then principal, she, with her husband’s help, has installed countless plants, from rosebushes to redwoods, around the once-drab campus.

The school’s appearance has changed dramatically in her time there. Originally, the walls were an unappealing, “faded institutional beige,” she said. In 2009, a parent, Lisa Skelly, created several large, Sonoma County-themed murals on the front of the school in an effort to beautify the campus. That caught the attention of the school district, which soon provided a new paint job for the rest of the school, Coker said.

New school programs and projects can sometimes become bogged down by bureaucracy. Not so under Coker’s leadership, said the parents and teachers who have worked closely with her.

Beth Berk, president of the school’s Parent Faculty Student Organization, said, “Kathy just gets things done. It’s not just, ‘We’re an administration, thank you for your comment, go home.’ She believes it’s a community and we’re all in it together.”

That attitude helped the school maintain many extracurricular programs despite experiencing dramatic budget cuts during the recession.

Marilyn Wheatley, head of the science department, has taught at the school for ?25 years. She said Coker has created a culture of collaboration among teachers where all ideas are taken seriously.

“She encourages teachers when they have an idea; she supports them wholeheartedly,” she said. “We all own a piece depending on our interest.”

The result is a proliferation of clubs and activities like campus beautification days and multicultural days.

Coker has presided over perhaps Santa Rosa’s most diverse middle school. In 2014-15, of the school’s 675 students, just 217 were classified as white, based on information from the California Department of Education. Just over half, about ?350 students, were classified as as Latino. Nearly 390 students were classified as socioeconomically disadvantaged. Coker said her goal was to make sure everyone felt included. To that end she implemented programs like Safe School Ambassadors, which teaches students and teachers to recognize problems on campus, like students being bullied or left out, and do something about it.

Senior Trevor Weitzenberg, who attended Santa Rosa Middle School before going on to Santa Rosa High, said the school provided his first real introduction to racial and economic diversity. His time there helped him embrace and befriend those who were from different circumstances, he said.

Coker’s combined efforts at the school earned her the title County Administrator of the Year in 2012.

She said she is happy to leave knowing she created a culture where kids were free to be kids.

“I like to say this is the happiest place on Earth second to Disney,” she said.

Coker will be replaced by Tom Fierro, who is now assistant principal.

Across town, Assistant Principal Tim Zalunardo will assume the reins at Piner High School following Sally Bimrose’s retirement. Bimrose, who has been principal at the northwest Santa Rosa high school for the past five years, is bookending her career at the school, having started there as a teacher in 1986. Under her leadership, the school has embraced a focus on science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM.

“Being principal has been the culminating experience of my career,” she said, speaking warmly of her time at Piner. “I feel lucky to have been able to work with such a great staff.”

Staff Writer Jamie Hansen blogs about education at extracredit.blogs.pressdemocrat.com. You can reach her at 521-5205 or jamie.hansen@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jamiehansen.