Jamal Adams Selected as Next La Salle Principal

Dear La Salle Community,

We hope you had a restful and blessed Easter Break. Over the past several months, our school’s academic department chairs, along with school president Perry Martin, have been involved with the search of La Salle’s new principal, following the resignation announcement of current principal Mrs. Courtney Kassakhian in December 2020.

With the help and assistance of Educational Directions, one of the top educational and academic search firms in the region, our Principal Search Committee was formed and actively participated in the selection process of our school’s new principal. The committee, led by current science department chair Mrs. Kjersti Holyfield, spent hours with the top 12 candidates vetted by Educational Directions. This diverse candidate group represented a wide range of experience and backgrounds and helped to ensure different voices and perspectives were presented to the selection committee.

The committee worked closely and concurrently with Mr. Martin, independently evaluating each candidate with a standardized rubric, deliberating and collaborating together. It’s important to note that, throughout all steps of this process, both the committee and Mr. Martin were in near lockstep in their independent evaluations of each candidate. After an initial round of interviews, four candidates were selected as finalists and were welcomed to campus to meet with our faculty, staff, and students in March. After careful review and deliberation, the Principal Search Committee and Mr. Martin are pleased to announce that Mr. Jamal Adams has been selected as the next principal of La Salle College Preparatory.

Mr. Adams currently serves as the Director of Faculty at Loyola High School of Los Angeles, in addition to serving as the school’s Director of Equity and Inclusion. As Director of Faculty, he is responsible for overseeing Loyola’s faculty, helping each teacher reach their professional goals in alignment with visionary pedagogy. He also has worked to ensure the continuous improvement and innovation of Loyola’s curriculum and best practices. As the Director of Equity and Inclusion, Mr. Adams worked to cultivate an institutional culture of awareness and understanding, through the lens of inclusion, equity, and belonging, ensuring that all members of the school’s community were welcomed and embraced. In addition to those duties, he is also a teacher in the Social Studies department teaching Economics and African American Studies. He also serves as the Head Coach of Loyola’s Boys Varsity Basketball Team.

After graduating from Loyola High School, he enrolled at Columbia University, where he was a member of the Men’s Basketball team and earned his Bachelor of Arts in Economics. He later earned his Master of Arts in Secondary Education from Loyola Marymount University, graduating with Honors. Mr. Adams’ professional career began in the finance industry at Merrill Lynch, where he served as a vice president in both New York and Los Angeles. Upon returning to Loyola as an educator, he served in various teaching and coaching roles over the past 15 years.

The Principal Search Committee is thrilled to welcome Mr. Adams to our La Salle community. We strongly believe that his background in academics, philosophy of education, and passion for extracurricular and co-curricular programming, coupled with his diversity and inclusion work, will help ensure that our Core Principles and values are upheld and cherished, in the spirit of St. John Baptist de La Salle. Over the next several months, Mr. Adams will work closely with La Salle’s administration team to ensure a seamless transition. We will also be sharing opportunities to meet Mr. Adams both virtually and in-person, as permitted. His work as principal will officially begin on July 1, 2021. Please join us in welcoming Mr. Jamal Adams to our La Salle family.

Perry K. Martin, M.Ed.
School President

Kjersti (Housman ’04) Holyfield, M.A.
Principal Search Committee Chairperson