Courtesy of Peter Alvarez
On April 30, the San Mateo Union High School District Board of Trustees approved Peter Alvarez’s contract to be Aragon’s principal for the 2026-2027 school year.
Alvarez has over 30 years of experience across both assistant principal and principal roles at numerous high schools. Most recently, he has served as the principal of Campolindo High School since 2022.
Alvarez cited community values in his decision to apply to Aragon.
“I know that Aragon has incredible diversity … incredible programs … [and] some of the most wonderful teachers,” Alvarez said. “It had so many of the things that I truly value in education around [like] the [Advancement Via Individual Determination] program. It has students who are dedicated to academics. It has [a] parent community that’s engaged [and] a teaching community that wants to do the best thing for kids.”
The hiring process began with faculty meetings to discuss different values the staff hoped to see in the upcoming principal. Then, teachers were asked to volunteer for different stages of the selection process, which included the paper screening, interviews and visiting the school site. The first round of interviews with Aragon teachers, students and parents were divided into two groups: extracurricular/social emotional learning and instruction. The extracurricular/social emotional learning interview focused on school activities, while the other was on academic instruction and involvement with teachers. The second interview round was with the District Office.
“[Alvarez’s understanding of Aragon showed] when he was answering questions, [as did] his ability to connect to different aspects of our campus,” said AVID and Ethnic Studies teacher Courtney Caldwell, who was part of the instruction interview. “It’s an outsider coming in who hasn’t worked on campus but has clearly looked at our [Western Association of Schools and Colleges report] … He was able to speak about his experience and things he’s done at his own school site, but also then connect to things at Aragon that were of value to him.”
To gain further insight into Alvarez, members of the Aragon community also visited Campolindo High School to speak to their students and faculty.
“The custodian talked about him coming out with pruning shears and pruning things on the campus,” said English teacher Holly Estrada, who was part of the site visit. “Or people talked about him walking by and seeing a student all alone under a tree every day and saying, ‘What are we going to do for him?’ … Their faces [showed] that they were crushed that he was going to be leaving but they loved and respected him so much that they couldn’t get in the way [of] him doing something that might be better for him.”
The visit also highlighted Alvarez’s impact on community members.
“There was a guy who Mr. Alvarez had hired … and worked with,” said athletic director Steve Sell, who was part of the extracurricular/social emotional learning interview and site visit. “He got promoted, [so] he was working at another school in the district … and this [guy] took time out of his day to come [to Campolindo High School] and speak on his behalf … [Mr. Alvarez] just left behind people who were extremely loyal to him, because he was a servant leader.”
Throughout Alvarez’s four-year stay at Campolindo, he made many changes to the school.
“I found out from the site visit … [that] he recognized that the library was pretty dead,” said junior Catherine Tsao, who was a part of the extracurricular/social emotional learning interview and site visit. “[Since the change] there’s more [than] 200 students in there a day [at a 1300] student school, which is pretty significant compared to how it was before [when] there were maybe 15 students.”
The revival of the space was due to restructuring the library.
“We removed books that had not been checked out for at least 10 years,” Alvarez said. “We retained titles that hold historical importance to the school. The library team then reconfigured the books to more closely resemble a modern bookstore, [and] adding titles monthly based on staff and student requests.”
With experiences like this, Alvarez hopes to foster an environment at Aragon that is representative of every student.
“The most important thing that a principal can do is to create a big enough table for every student to find a seat at,” Alvarez said. “My guiding principle is making sure that when I show up to school that I’m about every student every day … It’s about creating the most complete, comprehensive educational program that you can put together with the resources that you have that meets the needs of every student, and trying to create that sense of belonging for every student.”
To do so, Alvarez first plans to get to know Aragon better.
“I’m really looking forward to walking the halls of Aragon and learning from students,” Alvarez said. “And being a part of an education community … at all different levels, whether it’s administrative, whether it’s student, whether it’s parent. Me being able to intersect all of those different groups is something that I’m looking forward to, and learning how to be a better administrator through the needs [I’m] able to identify and figure out a way to solve.”
Alvarez will officially become Aragon’s principal on July 1.
