BHS Principal Retires, Honored by Board of Supervisors

Former Bloomington High School (BHS) principal Ignacio Cabrera retired from his 15-year tenure—13 of which he spent as principal—with the Colton Joint Unified School District (CJUSD), leaving Bloomington High School in the number-one rank in the district for both graduation and attendance rates, at 89.6 percent and 95 percent, respectively, according to a release issued by San Bernardino County Supervisor Josie Gonzales’s office. Upon his retirement, Cabrera was recognized by the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors for his service to BHS and CJUSD. “For the past 15 years, Bloomington High School has been very fortunate to have such a capable leader at the helm. His ability as an administrator can be proven by how the students and faculty have continued to succeed,” said Supervisor Gonzales. Cabrera began his career as an educator teaching music at Canyon High School in Canyon Country, Calif., where he spent 13 years teaching music. For 15 years after that, he taught privately before returning in 1994 to teach music at Hendrick Ranch Elementary School in the Moreno Valley Unified School District (MVUSD). He was preparing to take on the role as an elementary school principal, he said, when he was approached by the CJUSD about an opportunity to lead in their school district. For two years before he was promoted to the position of principal at BHS, he worked as the school’s assistant principal when he joined the district in 1998. “From the time Cabrera became principal in 2000, BHS has received two separate accreditations from WASC and has been honored as a National Demonstration School since 2006. Academic Performance Index (API) scores have grown from 535 to 677 and currently 90 percent of BHS AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) seniors are admitted into 4-year colleges upon graduation. The BHS Advanced Placement (AP) Program has also flourished, with the number of students taking and passing AP tests increasing each year,” a release from the San Bernardino County Supervisor Josie Gonzales’s office states. The leaps and bounds the school has made under his leadership were all steps toward the goal of what Cabrera described as an “academic culture.” “When I first started at Bloomington High School, it was a very rural school. There were no fences and there were no sidewalks. I felt I could change that into an academic culture. I looked for teachers who connected with children, because I knew that was the kind of staff I wanted. I was lucky in my first few years that I was able to build that type of staff,” he said. In 2008, the school added a new math and science wing to its campus, highlighting the school’s achievement of that goal. “I felt like we had established a new culture there and we were comprehensive. We were changing children’s perceptions of what they could be doing, and we’re sending our kids to good colleges. I wanted to be remembered as someone who cared about the kids and respected them, so I felt like that was a good legacy to leave.” Cabrera holds Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees in music education from the University of Arizona in Tucson, and a master’s degree and credential in educational administration. He has lived in Riverside since 1981 and has been married to his wife Susan for 38 years, with whom he has three children: Jon, Matthew and Jennifer.