From the Los Altos Town Crier / Brandon Roth / Aug 6, 2024
Cliff Mason II, an educator with a career as a teacher, law clerk and dean, has become the new Bullis Charter Middle School principal. Mason will replace Daniel Gross, a former teacher and principal who has worked at Bullis Charter for more than 16 years. Mason will begin his first instructional day as principal on Thursday.
Mason’s path in education started in Massachusetts, where he landed a job as a substitute algebra teacher. From there, he worked to become an assistant teacher and eventually earned his teaching certificate. He then worked as a high school language arts teacher for a short period, moved to Florida for a few years to work as a legal studies teacher and moved again to work as an economic and civics teacher for a Title I school in Charlotte, North Carolina. Mason said the Title I school was an “eye-opening” experience for him where he got to become close to a small group of teachers and give back to a student population that was raised in a similar neighborhood as him.

Cliff Mason is the new Bullis Charter Middle School principal. He is originally from Southern California and has held various educational roles throughout his career. Photo courtesy of Cliff Mason II
“It was rewarding and frustrating at the same time, it kind of felt two steps forward, three steps back largely because, I worked on a strong team, a group of four of us,” Mason said. “We had weekly planning meetings, we were very collaborative, but because of not just the demographic of students that we worked with, but because of a lot of the red tape that we kind of faced, it was difficult for us to kind of pour into our kids like we .”
Mason never loses sight of wanting to provide for diverse communities. He decided to enroll in law school in Indiana, hoping to make a greater impact on students at the administrative level. While a student, he worked as a law clerk for two years, spending most of his time with clients in jail. Mason said this experience made him into an empathetic person and grounded him to walk in other people’s shoes.
“Every day I walked into jail and interviewed clients trying to get better for what happened to them,” Mason said. “I think you have to recognize the humanity and all people regardless of what they have been accused of doing. And it’s a strength in my classroom teaching with my pedagogy.”
While in law school, a few months before graduating, a high school program in Portland contacted him and was interested in his resume. He soon found himself on a plane and proved to them – and himself – that his potential for being a leader was not just a performance over the phone.
He was soon hired as their history team lead, but in a few years, he made a switch to move back to his native home of Southern California due to family obligations. He continued his work as a history team lead in a Los Angeles school for 10th graders, landed a role as dean for school’s 9th graders and later worked as the dean of academics for a school in Pasadena. Mason said the position was equivalent to an assistant principal.
“I was the first dean of academics at my last school, in Pasadena,” Mason said. “I essentially functioned as the assistant principal at that school, discipline, registration, like all of that was my purview. So academic curriculum mapping and working with department chairs was a fully expansive role."
Mason said the previous role prepared him for his next chapter at Bullis Charter. Mason was drawn to Bullis Charter’s community because of the students’ achievements. Mason said he is looking forward to seeing the students work closely with their peers and teachers.
“I want to create an environment that allows for my kiddos to feel comfortable, engaged, explore ideas and taking intellectual risks,” Mason said. “I see it almost as a challenge to find different ways to push kids to be excited about taking risks and knowing that they can trust their classmates are going to have their back by asking thoughtful follow-up questions or snap their fingers in appreciation for an idea that was offered.”
Throughout Mason’s career, it was important for him to maintain “productive, meaningful conversations.” Mason wants to continue to motivate students by connecting them to spaces that will build their creativity such as using Bullis Charter’s AV room. He also hopes to create strong relationships with students, teachers and the parent community. He views his leadership style as a person who inspires students to create their best work.
“We are motivated by the relationships that we have established and good mentorship is important to the teachers,” Mason said. “I’m excited to build some continuity between our TK-5 and our middle school programs. I think beyond that, I’m genuinely excited to watch the intercession process of students from beginning to end, but it’s not just about their product. I want to watch the process.”
“And so, I’m looking forward to watching kids adapt through their research and explain how they elected to work through those problems.”
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