Message from the Principal
Dear Families,
Leading EBIA is deeply personal to me.
I was born and raised in the Bay Area. After spending much of my career serving students and schools in Louisiana and New York, I made the decision to come home. I was intentional about where I wanted to devote the next chapter of my career, and I chose East Bay Innovation Academy.
By the time I returned to the Bay Area, I had spent more than a decade in education as a teacher, special education leader, school administrator, and system-level leader. My own education has been equally important to the way I approach this work. I hold four degrees spanning literature and education, teaching, educational leadership and policy, and education law. My doctoral research focused on improving student outcomes through teacher collaboration and differentiated instruction. I have spent my professional and academic life studying what strong schools require and, more importantly, what young people deserve.
That experience is one of the reasons EBIA stood out to me.
I saw a school with the courage to take the middle school years seriously. I saw a diverse community of bright, creative, complex young people who deserved to be known well and challenged deeply. I saw a school that valued curiosity, intellectual independence, collaboration, and innovation. I also saw tremendous possibility.
Our mission asks us to prepare students not simply to succeed academically, but to become thoughtful, engaged citizens, leaders, and innovators. I believe deeply in that responsibility.
Middle school is an extraordinary period of becoming. Students are developing their identities, testing ideas, discovering strengths, making mistakes, learning to advocate for themselves, and beginning to understand the kind of people they want to be. It is a privilege to be part of those years.
I am immensely proud of our students. I am proud of their intelligence, humor, creativity, resilience, and willingness to take intellectual and personal risks. I am proud when they find their voices, when they persevere through something difficult, when they discover a talent they did not know they had, and when they begin to recognize the influence they can have on the people and communities around them.
I am equally proud of the educators who serve them.
Throughout my career, I have worked alongside educators in very different schools and systems. That experience has taught me never to take an exceptional staff for granted. EBIA is fortunate to have highly qualified professionals who bring expertise, high expectations, creativity, and genuine commitment to young people. I feel fortunate every day to work alongside people who think carefully about their craft and who continue asking how we can become better for our students.
I am proud to represent this school. I am proud of what EBIA has accomplished, and I am even more excited about what lies ahead.
If you are considering EBIA, I invite you to come see us. Visit classrooms. Look at student work. Ask students what they are building, reading, solving, or preparing to present. Meet the adults who will know your child.
I hope you will see what I saw when I returned home and chose EBIA: a remarkable community with extraordinary young minds, talented educators, and the capacity to become something truly exceptional.
We cannot wait for you to join us!
In partnership,
Dr. Rachel Viegas
Principal
East Bay Innovation Academy