Leadership & Administration

In 2005, after three years teaching 3rd-8th grade math at St Gregory the Graet School in Whittier, Mr. Tree was given the amazing opportunity to join the SAE team where he helped in founding the school’s first 11th grade teaching team as a US History teacher. In Fall of 2006, he followed his students up to the 12th grade and had the absolute privilege of guiding our first senior class to graduation. He immensely enjoyed building the first junior and senior teaching teams, and he has dedicated his career to continually growing our school. Mr. Tree is proud to be part of the SAE community of students, teachers, admin, staff, families, and local community members who continually meet opportunities to improve our programs, to create something new that has never been done before, or to simply fix an old problem that needs a fresh perspective. As a teacher leader prior to moving to administration, Mr. Tree has been an 11th grade team lead, 12th grade team lead, Social Science department chair, Chair of Chairs (Academic Lead Teacher), WASC Chair, LEA Testing Coordinator, AP Coordinator, ELD Coordinator, 504 Coordinator, and Foster and Homeless Youth COE Liaison. As an administrator, Mr. Tree has held the positions of an Assistant Principal, Special Education Director, and Chief Academic Officer. He has consistently improved services and increased funding sources for students with the highest needs in the community, he has increased opportunities for school community engagement by leading our School Site, Council, Equity Cadre, and Community Listening Forums. Above all else, Mr. Tree’s favorite accomplishments have been the student projects have had the opportunity to lead, especially Poachella and PomComCon. Mr. Tree earned his BA from the University of California at Davis in 2000 with a double major in Political Science and Philosophy, and he holds his administrative credential through Cal Poly Pomona. Mr. Tree is also a doctoral candidate (AbD) in Urban Educational Leadership from Claremont Graduate University. His areas of research include art integration in schools, mitigating the school-to-prison pipeline, and the influence of prison gangs on local communities. He has spoken on the need for the arts in schools at numerous venues around the world including the Journal of Language and Literacy Education Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, the Boys Arts Symposium in Canberra, Australia, and the Educational Research Symposium in Oxford, England.