Ygnacio Valley High principal Jonathan Pike leaves Concord school for position in Oakland
CONCORD, CA (June 19, 2024) — After completing his third year as principal of Ygnacio Valley High School this spring Jonathan Pike made the surprise announcement last week that he is leaving the Concord school for a position as Director/Assistant Superintendent at Oakland Military Institute College Preparatory Program.
The Oakland school opened during Jerry Brown’s tenure as mayor when we opened several charter schools. OMI opened in 2001 as the first charter ever sponsored by the state. It also became the first public military school and the first school sponsored by the National Guard.
As he leaves his position Pike said, “YVHS is a magical place for everyone. And it will be something that I will always treasure as a cornerstone as an educational administrator,” he wrote in a June 12 message to YVHS families and community. “It is with a heavy heart that I say goodbye to YVHS and all of our students who I’ve come to embrace as why YV is such an amazing school.”
Pike released a goodbye statement to the greater Ygnacio Valley High community on Instagram.
Time to focus on one job
In addition to his career in education Pike still serves as a Lieutenant Colonel with the California Army National Guard. He told the Pioneer, he’s “getting ready to retire [from the military] soon though. I have 28 years of service, both active duty Army and CA Army National Guard, but it’s getting time for me to focus on just one job.”
His Army service includes multiple combat deployments to the Middle East, a combat deployment to Panama in Central America and various duty stations within the United States. “I’m excited to start this new direction as it will really blend my military service and educational leadership and more importantly be embraced for the value it adds to the students, staff and community of OMI,” Pike adds.
Since joining Ygnacio Valley High School as the principal in July of 2021 he faced a number of challenges. The students were returning to campus from online learning due to COVID and “it was a challenging road but also rewarding one to transform the school into the positive direction that it’s pointed in now over the last three years.”
Warriors to Wolves
Through that time, the school kicked off starting a mascot change to the Wolves in Fall 2021 after the Mt. Diablo Unified School District board approved a change the previous Spring. He says, “We utilized this opportunity to re-embrace the spirit and culture of YV that it had so many years prior.” The school switched from Warriors to Wolves for the 2022-2023 school year.
Pike also points to the expansion of higher advanced courses in the International Baccalaureate program (IB-4-All) for all 11th grade students in language & literature, opening a Health Careers Pathway, expansion of the music and visual arts programs, modernization of classrooms and cafeteria furniture, a safety walk-lane entrance into school for students, beautification of the Quad to include trees and benches for students.
Last November in a Veterans Day ceremony the school dedicated a memorial bench donated by alumni. It honored six former Ygnacio Valley servicemen killed in Vietnam.
Pike cited numerous murals focused on students and culture in the hallways and in the cafeteria. Norcal Helping Hands donated an outdoor classroom and student reflection area with trees and stone benches. He also praised the transformation of campus culture where student safety is the first priority.
“Through my vision when I started, YV has become a campus that has blossomed into a school that focuses on ‘Students first, Learning always’ which is my vision motto, so to speak.”
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Jay Bedecarré
Jay Bedecarré is a long-time resident and writer in Concord and Clayton. He began his newspaper writing career while still a senior at Mt. Diablo High School and he has been part of The Pioneer since its inception in 2003. Jay also operates Bay Area Festivals, presenting events around the San Francisco Bay Area including Bay Area KidFest annually in Downtown Concord.