He’s a professional trombonist, playing with the Black Eyed Peas among an impressive list of acts. He attended California Institute of the Arts, one of the largest performing and visual arts schools in the world. He received a doctorate in education, combining his love of enrichment, learning, and creativity. He is Dr. Dan Ostermann, the new vice principal, and a STEAM enthusiast.

   With Ostermann’s background in music and his love for teaching, he has always tried to unite his two passions to create something even better. By doing so, he aided in the advancement of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s music program and learned a great deal along the way, which he hopes he will be able to use to help better the school.

   “At LA Unified, I was a music program director at a charter school where there were five small schools. Three of those schools were art focused: one was theater/theater production focused, one was environmentally focused, and the other was focused on visual and graphic design. There, my job was to build a music program for the whole campus because before that it didn’t exist. I worked with fundraising and grant writers doing community engagement and helped the five different principals build, develop, and implement their curriculum . . . The community that comes from building a choir is exremely powerful and deeply spiritual,” said Ostermann.

   Ostermann fell in love with that strong communal feeling, and even though he may have only stepped onto Petaluma soil two months ago, he is eager to integrate himself and get to know the community here on campus. He is excited to have found a career that engages in his personal focus of acting as a communal collaborator and strengthener.

   “I think at the core of who I am is a community builder. I love growing a community and being a part of a community and being a part of helping foster all of that,” said Ostermann.

   Having previously worked as both a freelance trombonist, enrichment teacher, and music program director for the Los Angeles Unified Campus, Ostermann also wanted to work on the supervisory side of education as an administrator to exemplify his key traits.

   “I think also being an administrator really plays to a lot of my strengths in terms of bringing people together and big picture things, and I love working on projects and initiative, community engagement, and parent engagement — I have a lot of experience in those areas and enjoy that work too, as difficult as it can be sometimes,” said Ostermann.

   His plans to reflect his passion to stand as an active figure on campus by first learning at least twenty new students’ names each week — a lofty yet sincere goal. He also deeply expresses how safety is his number one priority as a vice principal.

   “Safety is our number one issue, number one concern, for you guys. This is a safe environment and that means not only things like weapons and bullying and fighting, but just safety that you can express your opinions in a way that won’t be dangerous,” said Ostermann.    

  Not only is it an elevated concern on a school wide level, but also directly between him and any student here. Along with that stems the issue students and faculty constantly bring up regarding our campus’s appearance, and he is here to help improve it as well.

   “I’m here for you, I’m here for you guys, and I hope that you feel safe coming to me if you have a concern or a fun idea to help make the campus a nicer place to be. We all spend a lot of time here, so let’s make it the best we possibly can. And not that it isn’t already great, that’s not what I mean, but just that we definitely want to make it as best a place as we can,” said Ostermann.