By Mary O’KEEFE

Crescenta Valley High School Principal Linda Junge has announced she will be leaving the district on July 1.

“You deserve to hear from me directly that I have accepted the position of assistant superintendent of Human Resources in the South Pasadena Unified School District,” Junge stated in an email she sent out to Falcon families.

Junge has been with the Glendale Unified School District since 1997. She was raised in Glendale, and her husband graduated from CVHS. She has roots in the community; however, she lives in South Pasadena.

“This opportunity presented the possibility for me to contribute to my [new] hometown where I have lived for the past 12 years,” she said.

Junge has worked in several areas at GUSD ranging from the public information officer to principal. Eight years ago Junge took the position of CVHS principal during a difficult time for students and staff. A student had died by suicide at the school, which was witnessed by numerous students, teachers and staff. The school was in mourning and in shock.

Junge approached her job as principal with empathy for the staff and students.

“I think I did a lot of listening, and trying to connect people and get to healing,” she said.

Her approach was influenced by personal loss; her brother and brother-in-law both died by suicide.

“I remembered [after my brother’s death], a day or two later I saw my dad get in the car and go back to work. He said, ‘Linda you have to go back to work,’” she recalled.

That was her driving force, going back to work and moving forward. She said it would be easy to just get mired in sadness but it was important to keep moving forward, to go back to work.

She said when someone is in the middle of a situation it is difficult to see if they are making an impact. During one of those first days back at school the hallways were quiet, as if everyone was afraid to make noise. Then CVHS student Dylan Sylvester did something silly as he jumped down a staircase, which Junge saw. She started laughing, then he started and that led to his friends laughing.

“It was so good to hear laughter in the halls again,” Sylvester said at the time.

And maybe that is the legacy Junge will leave at CVHS. She brought a sense of fun, of strong school spirit and of joy. She embraced the strong community spirit of the Crescenta Valley.

“[Former CVHS principal] Linda Evans described CV as a porous campus. That’s a perfect [definition],” Junge said noting the campus is filled with support from local businesses, families and the entire community.

It is that sense of community she feels at her home in South Pasadena and what she wants to bring to her new position.

She may not be at CVHS as principal but she will still be connected to GUSD. Her daughter is a senior at CVHS and her son attends Rosemont Middle School; her parents live in La Crescenta.

Junge said her decision to leave was well-timed for her children as well – especially for her daughter who can now spend her senior year as just a student and not the daughter of the principal.

Junge said she is proud of what she has done while at CVHS and loves the school community. For the past two years she has been working on the Wellness Center for the school and this week announced the teacher specialist for the program, Vanessa Blackwood.

“She has been part of this team for two years. She has unique interpersonal skills, is very articulate and is passionate for this [program],” Junge said.

The program will guide “restorative practices and mindfulness.”

South Pasadena Unified Superintendent is excited about welcoming Junge to its school family.

“We are very excited to welcome Linda Gubler Junge as a South Pasadena Unified School District cabinet member,” said Superintendent Geoff Yantz. “Dr. Junge’s extensive experience as an equity-driven leader will bring creativity and innovation to SPUSD’s Human Resources Department. With responsibility for all personnel functions including negotiations, and strategic faculty and staff recruitment and retention, Dr. Junge’s overarching goal is relevant and responsive education for our students.”

Junge will be bringing the community spirit she experienced at CVHS to her new job.

“Community is what life is all about,” she said. “We are all about family, we are all connected.”

She will also bring her positive attitude. Junge did admit this year of pandemic has been difficult but she still has faith that the world will be a better place in part because of what she has seen in the CVHS students.

“Working at CV with these students, they are so talented and so [smart],” she said. “It is going to be a better world.”