Dale Jones
Executive Director/Superintendent

Dale Jones has been a professional educator for over 23 years, serving most recently as the principal of Nimitz School, a Title One school and an English Language Development Center in the Cupertino Union School District. Prior to working at Nimitz, he was the principal of McAuliffe School, a parent participation, child-centered alternative school. He’s also been a middle school Assistant Principal, a classroom teacher, and a special education teacher.

Dale comes from a family of educators. Both of his sisters and his parents are or were teachers. His mother Jackie was the speech therapist at Anderson School and taught a special education class at Easterbrook School, in the Moreland School District.

Dale is a hands-on administrator who believes in leading by example and through the creation of collaborative learning communities, where students, staff, and parents all share the joy of learning together and from each other. He believes that learning to ask the right questions is just as important as finding the right answers, and that when children are given real choice in what and how they learn they not only maintain their intrinsic motivation to learn, they are also develop the skills and aptitudes to be life-long learners.

While at McAuliffe, Dale led the successful effort to extend the school from Kindergarten through sixth grade to Kindergarten through eighth grade and grew the enrollment so that they no longer had to share their campus with another program. He also extended the parent training program and created a school-wide student elective program that was driven by student interests. Dale taught a carpentry class and his students built a greenhouse for the school garden.

Dale’s personal interests include reading, bicycling, basketball, racquetball, golf, and skiing. He also enjoys spending time with his wife and their two daughters.