Every school deserves strong leadership, but ensuring staff and students have what they need to succeed is difficult to do alone. That is why assistant principals are essential in schools across Chicago. They are the behind-the-scenes strategists, the culture keepers, the connectors, and the champions of students and staff. Danielle Pearse is an assistant principal who exemplifies the value, heart, and hard work of the role.
Danielle didn’t set out to be an assistant principal, though. She didn’t even plan on becoming an educator. In college, she was on a pre-med track, convinced that saving lives meant becoming a doctor. But as her passion shifted, a tutoring job at her old middle school sparked a realization: her passion was for education.
“I fell in love with the lightbulb moment when students finally get something,” she said. “One student changed my life — I still tell her that.”
After nearly a decade as a biology teacher at Walt Disney Magnet School, Danielle had no plans to leave the classroom. “I was that teacher who said, ‘Nope. I’m a lifer. I’m never going into administration.’” But her then-assistant principal, Dr. Anna Vilchez — who is now principal at Steinmetz College Prep — saw something in her. And like all great leaders do, she pushed Danielle to grow.
The result? Danielle returned to school, earned the necessary credentials, and now serves as an assistant principal at Steinmetz, where she leads with vision, equity, and purpose.
Danielle acknowledges the importance of her role: “You can’t run a school alone — and you shouldn’t have to.” She knows firsthand how much happens behind the scenes in a school, much of it invisible to students and teachers. “When I was a teacher, I’d be like, ‘Where’s our [assistant principal]?’ Now I know. They’re putting out fires all day, and then going home to do all the work they didn’t get to during the day.”
Danielle’s relationship with Anna is built on mutual trust and shared purpose. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for her. I’m her person. If she calls at 9 p.m., I’m there. If she needs something at 4 a.m., I’ll answer.”
But her role is more than problem-solving; it’s a partnership. “Even if it’s just someone saying, ‘I got you,’ leadership is not work you can do alone. Every school — every student — deserves more than one person holding the weight.” Danielle is that person: the one who holds systems together and holds the staff accountable for doing what is best for kids.
As both an assistant principal and school programmer, Danielle is focused on creating equitable outcomes for every student, particularly English learners, students with disabilities, and students from historically underserved groups. “We don’t program for teachers. We program for students. That has to be the starting point,” she says.
Accordingly, Danielle leads data-informed conversations, partners with teams across the school, and ensures that the schedule opens doors instead of closing them. Danielle has regular “rigor walks” with her leadership team to calibrate what excellent, equitable instruction should look like in every classroom.
Though she understands the importance of her role, Danielle plans to become a principal one day — but she’s in no rush. “There’s still so much to learn. I want to be ready when the right opportunity comes.”
Anna is helping her to prepare for that by holding her to her growth goals and pushing her out of her comfort zone. “She’ll even call me out on my facial expressions in meetings!” Danielle laughed. “She pushes me to align my words, my actions, even my nonverbals with who I want to be as a leader.”
And when that opportunity comes and Danielle leads her own school, she knows that she will want a partner to support her. “Because every school should have an [assistant principal],” she says. “Always.”
