As students enter the 2023-2024 school year so does their new principal. After Tamalpais High School’s past principal J.C. Farr’s resignation, and an interim principal Liz Seabury, a new principal, Kimberly  Clissold, Ph.D., has been appointed to fill the critical role as Tam’s lead administrator. 

Clissold knew from a young age that she wanted to go into the teaching field. Her mother was in charge of a home daycare. “She did a lot of work with the little ones and because it was at my house, I got a lot of early childhood experience,” Clissold said.

While growing up in O’ahu, Hawai’i, Clissold furthered her experience of teaching before attending Chaminade University in Honolulu.

Knowing the career path she wanted to pursue, Clissold intended to pursue teaching P.E., but instead left college with a master’s degree in teaching Hawaiian and World History. 

After teaching for four years, Clissold received her first administrative position as a dean of students. She continued for five years until her resignation to pursue her doctorate of philosophy (Ph.D.) degree at University of Hawai’i, Manoa. While finishing her dissertation, Clissold traveled across Europe for eight months before landing in Sonoma County, California.

Clisshold was torn between two decisions upon her arrival. 

“Do I go back to Hawai’i and pick up my position, and finish up the last little bit of my dissertation? Or do I try to get a job here?” Clissold said. 

She decided to stay in California where she received an assistant principal position at Montgomery High School. After four years as an assistant principal at Montgomery, she did two years as a vice principal, then became the principal of Santa Rosa High School. 

As she was in the hiring process for Tam, she faced a panel of administrators. One of the administrators included one of Tam’s assistant principals, Tara Ranzy. 

“There’s a kindness in her, an empathy and compassion,” Ranzy said, stating her confidence in Tam’s future with Clissold. “She is a strong woman, she does carry her power and own it; that resonates with me.

“She’s empathetic, sensitive, and she cares. Those are some of the qualities that I appreciate that stand out to me. That’s not always the case with a principal,” Ranzy said.

As Tam’s new principal, Clissold plans on incorporating new systems, consistent communication, and opportunities for staff and students to be heard. She has put together a set of core values and tools that she finds useful to any school environment. 

“I find that transparency and consistency and being very open with people about what’s going on even if it does happen to be around a crisis or a concern, I feel that people appreciate and respect that. That helps me create a bond,” Clissold said. 

As some students would say, the past year for Tam has been challenging, between differing administration, the list of alleged sexual assaulters last November, and Tam students’ behavior during a party that ended up in the CVS parking lot involving local law enforcement.

While these events have created an atypical environment at Tam, Clissold does not feel intimidated. 

“I don’t think I would have accepted the position if I didn’t feel that connection [to Tam]. Having said that, I also do appreciate that some people have been through some trauma and crisis here. I want to keep providing opportunities for people to share that as they are comfortable,” Clissold said

While Tam moves forward with a new principal, two new additions to the administration team, returning staff, new academic and wellness counselors, the future of Tam appears bright to Clissold and staff in administration. 

“There is a lot to learn, but if I’m maximizing opportunities for communication, helping my teachers do the same for students, I think over time it’s going to grow. Students are going to make a variety of decisions coming out of high school, I just want to make sure my students have as many opportunities and choices as they want,” Clissold said.