I met Carin Geathers in July at a summer school program at Fruitvale Elementary School. She said she had seen the Trib’s series on rookie teacher Andy Kwok, and jokingly suggested I document her first year as principal of Burckhalter Elementary School — “the good, the bad and the ugly.”

Here’s a short video I made of Geathers on the first day at school. You can find the story here.

Geathers, 43, might be new at this job, but she has about 20 years of teaching and coaching experience (and plenty of personal connections) in Oakland from which to draw whenever she’s in a tough place. She’s an OUSD parent, too; her 7-year-old daughter goes to Grass Valley. Her challenge will be to make the case for keeping Burckhalter school open, despite its low enrollment; the East Oakland foothills school was almost shut down last year.

Any advice for her?