Black Mountain Middle School
9353 Oviedo Street, San Diego CA 92129-2138
Phone: (858) 484-1300 Fax: (858) 538-9440
Attendance: (858) 484-1300 x3806
Darcel Glover, Principal
I am extremely excited to serve you all as the principal of Black Mountain Middle School. I am a native San Diegan who attended SDSU where I was a member of the Aztec football team and received a degree in Environmental Design. Prior to my career in education, I performed as an architectural and environmental designer. During that time I worked to expose young people to the joys and benefits of working within STEM fields. As an educator, I continued to develop students as an architecture and engineering teacher as well as an athletics director. Before becoming the principal of Black Mountain Middle School, I served as an assistant principal at Westview High School for four years. I draw my inspiration from supporting young people in their journey to find out Who they are? Who they want to be? And ultimately, How they work to get there?
It has been my personal blessing to have the support of my wonderful wife, Lisa (who is an elementary school teacher) and our two wonderful daughters, Zoe and Samara. Together we enjoy traveling, spending time with family, cooking and eating new cuisines.
Valerie White, Assistant Principal
It is a privilege to be invited into the Black Mountain Middle School community as an Assistant Principal! I'm originally from the Los Angeles area and moved to San Diego 4 years ago. I taught high school art and art history for the last ten years in Manhattan Beach and Vista before deciding I wanted to pursue education in a whole new way! I have a BA from Cal State Long Beach in Art Education and my MA from Cal State San Marcos in Education Administration.
I have also taught art classes in Cambodia and English Language classes in China. I've been lucky enough to travel internationally with students to Greece, Spain, France, England, and Costa Rica and to many cities around the country for journalism conferences.
On the weekends and in our free time, you can catch me and my husband working on house projects and building something new, tinkering with cars, or taking a motorcycle ride! We love our German Shepherd named Ripley (after Ripley from the movie Alien)!
Leandro Galaz, Assistant Principal
It is with great enthusiasm that I am joining the Black Mountain Middle School team. I have been in education for 18 years at the high school and university levels. I have spent most of my life in Southern California and came to San Diego to start college at UC San Diego. I completed my Masters at San Diego State and my counseling credential at National University. I started my career in education as a school counselor at an alternative school and then moved to the comprehensive high school shortly after. My background in social work led me to the Masters of Social Work program at Cal State San Marcos where I taught graduate students for 4 years. I then returned to high school and have served as a counselor on special assignment for the past 2 years supporting administration. While I have enjoyed my years with older students I am looking forward to supporting middle school students as my own children are in middle school.
During my free time, I am currently pursuing a PhD in social work as well as enjoying all the moments I can with my family. We love going on hikes around San Diego and we often have grandparents in town who we will take to the beach or the Safari Park. We definitely enjoy taking advantage of the great weather in San Diego and end up outdoors often. One of our favorite family vacation destinations is south of Rosarito to enjoy the beach and the food. One of my newest hobbies is growing a new music library of vinyl which right now includes Queen, Elton John, Pink Floyd, and Nirvana, amongst others. I enjoy the intentionality of selecting music on a record as compared to using playlists with hundreds of songs.