Katherine Warren poses for a photo at the 2019 homecoming dance. Warren resigned her position from San Marin and moved to Salt Lake City, Utah.
On Feb. 12, 2021, Katherine Warren will officially resign her position as Assistant Principal. Warren has moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, where she will spend her time caring for her grandchildren and studying for law school. A series of events prompted Warren’s decision to resign.
“Right when I became Assistant Principal, my husband also had a job change, and his was in Salt Lake City,” Warren said. “He thought he was going to be able to go back-and-forth, and he did for a while, but then we both realized he needed to be in Utah. We have family in Marin County and a family cabin in Utah, so we decided that I would stay here and he would stay there and we would do this. It worked really well and then COVID hit.”
Once the pandemic hit, Warren made the decision to move to Utah to be with her growing family. Warren’s daughter-in-law also decided to return to school and Warren plans to support her by helping with the grandchildren a few days each week.
“During the time of COVID, my youngest child had a child with his wife and moved here to Salt Lake City,” Warren said. “My oldest son and his partner are a car ride away.”
Although Warren has spent 20 years in education, she has always had other career goals. Warren is in the process of applying to law school at the University of Utah.
“I never intended to stay in the classroom, as an administrator, or at the district level,” Warren said. “What I really have always been interested in is the policy behind public education. I think good policy is the way we are going to be able to create better public education in America. We need to have people that understand the practicality of what it means to teach and be a leader inside of a public education space and can translate that into policies.”
Warren established a myriad of relationships with students and staff through her involvement in the San Marin community. In particular, she established bonds with other administrators.
“We made a pretty good team,” Assistant Principal Michael Casper said. “I learned a lot from her and she learned a lot from me. Her style is a little different from my style, and I think that’s a good thing because we complemented each other very well.”
Warren emphasized the importance of equity in public schools and demonstrated her passion for helping struggling students through her actions.“When I think of Ms.Warren and what she stands for, I think of equity,” Casper said.
“That is really dear to her heart. She really believes that her time, sweat and energy needs to go to the neediest students.
”Students also acknowledge the impact that Warren has made on the school; from her push for the development of a tutorial program, to her preservation of the Speech and Debate club, and her interventions with students and parents.
“Speech and debate-wise, I do feel like this will have a decent impact on the club,” senior Trevor Fox (a member of the Speech and Debate club) said.
“She’s dealt with the more administrative side of the club for a while now, so it definitely will be a bit more work on our part.”
Warren established exceptional bonds with a wide range of students, in particular, the students that she taught in English class, who have now graduated from San Marin.
“San Marin will definitely miss her,” San Marin alum Matthew Sargent said. “She was always at the games, or at the events; she is just a hands-on, community leader that wants to be involved in everything.”
When reflecting upon her involvement within the San Marin community, Warren expressed her gratitude for the students and faculty that she connected with.
“I truly felt loved, appreciated, and respected,” Warren said. “Everything that any teacher or administrator would ever want to feel, I felt from that school, and it was very difficult to choose between one family and another.”
By Paige Chassman
