Principal Mike Bachicha is leaving Farallone View Elementary

Mike Bachicha, Principal for the past seven years at Farallone View Elementary School in Montara, has been promoted to Director of Categorical Programs, a new administrative position within the Cabrillo Unified School District. The position is responsible for maximizing efficiency in the use of federal and state funds and for finding creative ways to fund school activities within constraints set out by each source of funds.

He will be replaced in the new school year by Suzanne Michelony, currently the Principal at Hatch Elementary in Half Moon Bay. Ms. Michelony has been the principal at Hatch for the past nine years and is the only principal within the school district with more experience as principal than Bachicha.

Mr. Bachicha, or “Mr. B” as he is universally known among both students and parents, imprinted his easy-going style upon the school—as well as his high regard for scholarship and data-driven decision making. He is himself a student, soon to complete his Ed.D. at USC in Education Leadership, an applied version of the traditional theory-based education doctorate. 

In his tenure as principal Bachicha cites with pride a variety of achievements.

According to Mike, Farallone View is often referred to as a “happy place” with a high level of parental involvement and teamwork among teachers and administrators. This, he says, is widely recognized as a “big change” over the situation at the school when he first arrived.

He is also a enthusiastic proponent of “looping,” the pedagogical technique of keeping a cohort of students together as they advance in grades and having the teacher advance to the next grade with them over two year periods. The benefit is a closer relationship between students and teacher and allows students to “hit the ground running” in the second year since teachers already know the capabilities of each student.

When he arrived at Farallone View only four out of roughly twenty-two classes were taking part in “looping.” Next year it will be eleven of twenty-two classes.

But behind everything for the soft-spoken Bachicha is data. At first, he says, teachers didn’t see the full value of using a data-based approach to management at the school. The turning point came when, several years ago, the spelling scores at the school were abysmal. Bachicha sent four teachers for training in a new program, “Words Their Way,” and then ran both the traditional program and the new program at the school at the same time in “a sort of natural experiment.” The success of the new program—a “huge jump in spelling scores”—proved to many that Mike’s philosophy had merit. Teachers now come to him asking for data.

Known for his ability to interact easily with children, he says he will miss that part of his old job the most. “I love kids, I love being around them, the daily interaction.” His new position is located in an office on Kelly Ave. in Half Moon Bay.

Bachicha seems unreconciled with the idea of losing part of himself—”saying good-bye to the persona of Mr. B.” There is a sadness in his voice as he says the words. But “Mr. B” is not going away entirely. His daughter, Nina, is a second grader at Farallone View.