As Van Nuys High School’s principal, Ms. Lourdes DeSantiago, sits down at her desk at 7:30 a.m., she takes a deep breath. But before she can exhale, a knock on her door interrupts her, and soon a line of people forms, each with their own questions and requests.
“We serve the needs of students, and the needs of every student are so different. So you may plan your day, but it often does not go as planned,” she said. “And that’s okay, but sometimes it’s difficult to get through the day and meet all of our expectations.”
From budget meetings to LAUSD-mandated policies, DeSantiago’s’s day-to-day workload is relentless. What keeps her going is the chance to help students across an entire campus.
DeSantiago has said the most rewarding part of the job has always been seeing students succeed.
Before going into administration, she taught math, from Algebra 1 through Calculus AB/BC for six years at James Monroe High School and Polytechnic High School.
“During my time as a teacher, the thing that made my eyes sparkle and warmed my heart was seeing students start to understand a concept that they were struggling with,” DeSantiago said. “I loved hearing them say at the end of the year, ‘Thank you so much for helping me. I was able to learn something new.’”
During her five years at Van Nuys, she has pushed to expand academic and athletic programs, particularly for students who were falling through the cracks.
“The school I was at before had a lot of great programs, but nowhere near as many as Van Nuys High School,” she said. “Coming here was an exciting opportunity to see what other programs we could expand on or create.”
That search led DeSantiago to launch the International Newcomer Academy at Van Nuys in 2023, one of only three in LAUSD.
“I enjoy working with data, and I found that English learner students made up a sizable portion of the school population and were at a disadvantage when it came to graduating on time,” DeSantiago said. “With the internationals program. I saw a window of opportunity for them to be at the same level as the other students and graduate with their peers.”
The International Newcomer Academy enrolls students who have never attended school in the U.S., offering them English instruction and a modified course load designed to help them earn enough credits to graduate within four years.
Since the academy’s opening, graduation rates amongst the school’s English learners have steadily improved.
According to California Department of Education reports prior to the academy’s opening, the graduation rate of English language learners at Van Nuys high school was 57.6%, but that rate has since increased to 74.2% by 2025.
DeSantiago has also reshaped the school’s athletic programs.
“I remember when I first came in, I was supervising a football game, and the team was so small that if a kid got injured, that was it,” she said. “In talking to the coach and talking to the athletic department, I said that we have to change this system and open up a JV team. We needed to put more effort into recruiting younger students to help build up the Varsity team. As we made these changes, the team got bigger and started winning.”
DeSantaigo secured funding for additional coaching staff, and the roster grew.
When DeSantiago started in 2021, the Van Nuys football team was ranked 60th in the Los Angeles City Section and 1,007th in California. This season, the team finished the season ranked 16th in the City Section and 536th statewide.
DeSantiago is quick to credit the students and staff who do the day-to-day work. She sees her role as removing barriers.
“They are doing the work, but it starts somewhere, with someone helping to move the obstacles and give them the resources,” she said.
Her goal is to find as many ways as possible for students to be involved in the school community.
“This is what I look for as a leader of the school — opportunities for students to get involved,” DeSantiago said. “If these opportunities aren’t available to students, many will be out doing things that they are not supposed to.”
DeSantiago tries to initiate and support a lot of big projects at school, but she admits that many of her days are lost in day-to-day tasks.
“The district has certain deadlines that we need to meet, and I get but we are not a cookie cutter school, we service the needs of so many different students,” DeSantiago said, “You may plan your day but it usually does not go as planned. I do the best I can to meet expectations, and I tell myself, ‘Okay, Lourdes, you’re here you just have to take it one day at a time.’”
This article originally appeared in the Early Spring 2026 print edition.
