On Wednesday, June 28th, the Board of Education of the Piedmont Unified School District voted unanimously to appoint Ms. Shannon Fierro as the new Principal for Millennium High School and the Piedmont Adult School effective July 1, 2017.

Ms. Fierro will succeed Sati Shah, who resigned his position as MHS Principal in June of this year to become the High School Principal & Associate Superintendent at Mt. Shasta High School in the Siskiyou Union High School District.

Ms. Fierro brings 20 years of experience as a teacher, administrator and coach across the US and overseas. Born and raised in the East Bay, Ms. Fierro went east for schooling, earning a Bachelor of Arts in French and Teaching Certification from Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA, a Master’s Degree in French Studies from New York University, NY, a Master’s Degree in International Education from Harvard University, Cambridge, MA and a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in Educational Administration from Pace University, NY.

“We are elated to have Ms. Fierro lead the Millennium High School community,” said Superintendent Randall Booker. “Her varied experiences with diverse populations, curriculum development, instructional coaching, and special education will all tremendously benefit our students,” commented Booker. “Her ties to the community, organizational skills, and attention to detail will also serve our strong Adult School Programs.”

Ms. Fierro began her career as a founding member of Tech Boston Academy, a technology-focused public high school supported through a Gates Foundation grant. In addition to teaching ESL, Spanish and French, she built a drama program and helped write city-wide language curriculum. She then moved to help grow a new public high school in New York City called the Bronx Academy of Letters. There she served as a teacher, mentor, special education coordinator and vice principal.

Her professional journey has also included over 7 years of district-level and teacher development work, including leading training for hundreds of new teachers with the New York City Teaching Fellows; building a formative assessment department for 5 years in San Francisco Unified and directing a team of instructional coaches with Aspire Public Schools in Oakland.

Most recently, Ms. Fierro has served as a Vice Principal of Berkeley High School, overseeing 900 students in the Berkeley International High School Program. As a Piedmont resident and mother of young PUSD students, Ms. Fierro is “humbled and excited to be able to bring [her] broad professional experience to serve my community and support the individual growth and success of the young people of Millennium High School”.

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Millennium High School is located in Piedmont, California, a city of approximately 11,000 residents in the San Francisco Bay Area. MHS serves a broad cross-section of approximately 75 students with diverse learning styles, proficiency levels, and personal needs. Students at MHS complete the same graduation requirements as students at Piedmont High School.

The MHS curriculum is aligned with Content Standards for California Public Schools, and our courses satisfy UC “a-g” admission requirements. MHS prides itself on building an educational community, with an array of educational options and instructional strategies not readily available in traditional classrooms. Most MHS graduates pursue higher education at community colleges or four-year colleges and universities.