In most conversations about the Orcutt School District, the name Joe Dana comes up.  In his 36 years with the district, Dana has been principal of six of the eleven schools. He has been a teacher, principal, vice principal, director of charter programs, independent study and for the last five years, the Assistant Superintendent of Education Services. 
            Dana is retiring at the end of the school year in June.  
            In measuring Dana’s individual contact with thousands of students and their parents and his leadership in establishing curriculum for the district, his influence has been incalculable.   
            Dana has consistently represented the district at community events and government meetings as a liaison to the Orcutt community.  
          Many school districts hire leadership from applicants from other districts nationally or from other areas of California.  Not so with Joe Dana. He grew up in Orcutt. He began kindergarten at Alice Shaw Elementary School in 1970. After elementary school, he attended Lakeview Junio High, followed by high school at Righetti where he graduated in 1982 (go class of ’82!). He took classes at Allan Hancock College before transferring to the University of California, Berkeley, to earn a degree in history. 
          After graduation, Dana took a job with the Santa Maria Times. “It was really a fun job,” he says of his three years as an editor writing news and sports stories for the local newspaper. “I had a blast covering sports and major news stories.”   
He decided he wanted to go into teaching and obtained his teaching credential. In 1990, began his educational career by teaching fifth grade at Joe Nightingale Elementary School.
          “A highlight of my career happened during my first year of teaching in 1990,” he shares. During Operation Desert Storm, the United States and 42 supporting countries declared war on Iraq after its leader, Saddam Hussein, sent his troops to invade Kuwait.  
           “My fifth-grade students wrote letters to people in the Persian Gulf. One of the units of Desert Storm soldiers made a handmade wooden frame with cloth backing with their personal dog tags and unit insignias for my class. It is a lifetime treasure,” he proudly remembers. 
          Dana was principal at Nightingale School on September 11, 2001, when the United States was attacked by terrorists in New York and Pennsylvania. “It was picture day,” he recounts. “I arrived at school early; photographers were already set up to photograph. We had no TV and when we heard the news, I went from classroom to classroom throughout the day to reassure the students.” Superintendent Pat Eggleton sent a letter to parents. “It wasn’t until the next day that I found out the magnitude of the attack.” Terrorists hijacked four airliners, flying three of the planes into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. They crashed the fourth plane in rural Pennsylvania. The attacks killed 2,976 people and injured thousands more. The district supplied counselors and psychologists to support students and parents.    
          The young, personable Dana rose through the ranks and served as principal of Nightingale, Dunlap, Pine Grove, Olga Reed and Orcutt Academy elementary schools. He also has worked to oversee Orcutt Academy High School. 
          Dana is currently responsible for curriculum and instruction in the district, testing, professional development of staff and administrators, community engagement and evaluation of student textbooks and digital tools.  
           In 2016, the Orcutt School District asked voters to approve a 60-million-dollar bond issue.  Dana co-chaired the bond campaign. His eyes light up as he recounts putting together a team to outreach to the Orcutt community. 
          He and his team created phone banks, walked neighborhoods and gathered endorsements which resulted in over 57 percent of voters supporting the bond. Bond funds were used for classroom updates and security improvements. Orcutt Academy High School now has a 12-million-dollar gymnasium and multi-purpose room. “We had so much help from parents and students,” he says. “The enthusiasm spoke highly about how the Orcutt community supports its schools.”   
           As to the future, “I am not going to walk away,” he says. “Just scale down. District Superintendent Holly Edds has given me some assignments: assist the district’s charter schools and district communications, all in an advisory role.” 
          He will be able to spend time with his family, including his wife Angie and two grown children, Jacob, 27 and Sabrina, 21 who is engaged with plans for marriage this fall. His father is 90 years of age. 
         After thirty-six years of guiding children toward their diplomas, he says he wants to attend Allen Hancock College. 
        “Maybe an art class; maybe a film class. I just want to be a student again.”    
Steve Southwick reporting