Profile
Lisa Gonzales
Vice President of Education
Silicon Valley Education Foundation
Only a born multi-tasker like Lisa Gonzales could be a television weather person in the evening and a substitute elementary school teacher during the day. “At first I was just looking for something to do during the morning,” recalls Lisa, “but once I started working with the children, I knew my heart belonged in education.” Choosing a career in education also allowed Lisa to settle in near her home in the Bay Area, and not be forced to move frequently, as is common in broadcasting.
Following that first substitute job back in 1991, Lisa earned her credential and began teaching middle school in Daly City, California, just south of San Francisco. After enduring much teasing from her students when she admitted to not having a computer, Lisa agreed to buy one, but only if they would show her how to use it. As a result, Lisa’s first computer teachers were actually children, whose natural enthusiasm and lack of fear make them eager to learn anything new with technology.
Lisa was grateful for her students’ coaching a few years later, when she was a first-year principal at an elementary school where the technology infrastructure fell apart. The school had to release the computer tech from his contract, and it was up to Lisa to pick up the pieces. Realizing the school needed to start from scratch, she worked with the leadership team to revamp the school’s technology system. “We had the plan, but we needed funding,” Lisa recalls. “Then I wrote grants for $80,000 and our parents and community groups stepped in to raise more than $45,000, which allowed us to implement an entirely new technology program.”
Lisa believes that people can only understand the power of technology when they experience how it can make their lives easier. “In education, we must work smarter instead of harder,” Lisa emphasizes. “Technology has the potential to let us focus on what matters most.” However, as the former principal of a low-performing school that is undergoing Program Improvement Review, she is aware of technology’s limitations in addressing her school’s most basic needs. The Review requires that her school devote specific time blocks to teaching basic skills, leaving little leftover for “other” areas, including technology. She is optimistic about the potential of two new after school programs to help children to learn more about computers, but during the regular school day, she is locked into a schedule that precludes any technology component.
Lisa finds that technology is essential for catching up on work and personal matters in the evenings, so she can devote herself to being in the classroom during the day. “Teacher quality is my number one focus, so I need to be out of my office when I am in the building,” she explains.
A living embodiment of the old saying, “if you want something done, ask a busy person,” Lisa relies on her laptop to focus on her many commitments, including President of Region 8 for ACSA, participation in the City of San Jose's Arts Commission, Board Member of Gemini Crickets (a mom of multiples group), co-founding member of the Women’s Leadership Network for Santa Clara County, and Santa Clara County’s Arts Education Master Plan Task Force Leadership Council.
Lisa and her family are big Sharks fans! In fact, her husband was instrumental in working under San Jose Mayor Tom McEnery and the Sports Authority to bring a major league hockey team to the City of San Jose. Lisa is also an avid message board reader, and especially loves one for “Multiple Moms,” which provides tips and advice (and a lot of socializing) for raising her twin girls. With her new position at the Silicon Valley Education Foundation, she has found the perfect job to interweave her passions with the arts, technology, math and science where she gets paid to multi-task all day long!