Sean C. Morgan
Glenna DeSouza says she’s happy to be back in Sweet Home filling in as principal at Oak Heights until the end of the school year.
She succeeds Courtney Murphy, who resigned two weeks ago. DeSouza took over on Tuesday, Jan. 19.
DeSouza started working as principal at Foster Elementary School in 2006. She left Foster Elementary School in 2013 to take a job in Jefferson County, where she was the planning principal in Madras for a new kindergarten through eighth-grade school on the Warm Springs Reservation. The school opened, and she remained there until retiring in April.
DeSouza indicated when resigning from Foster, nearly three years ago, that she did so with reluctance.
“The decision to accept this position was very difficult because I have always been very proud of Foster’s staff and students,” DeSouza said in 2013. “You all work so very hard to make sure all of our kids are making progress, and it shows how much you truly care.”
She lives in Salem, and in retirement she has done a lot of different things, she said, including spending time with her daughter in Wyoming and son in Texas before returning to work in Sweet Home.
“It’s great,” DeSouza said. “I was really pretty excited.
“It’s been busy. There’s a lot of catchup and a lot of new people – teachers and students – to learn who they are.”
She has worked with some of the staff, including counselor Joe Sanchez all seven years she was at Foster, and she knows others who worked at Foster or through her time in the district.
“I think it’s very welcoming,” DeSouza said. “I’ve felt very welcomed by the staff.”
The kids are saying, “Hi, Mrs. D,” and “Hi, principal,” she said. “So it’s felt very welcoming.”